5 things: Aramark lays out fall campus dining plans

Each Friday Food Management compiles a list that highlights five things you probably missed in the onsite foodservice news that week and why you should care about them.

Here’s your list for the week of August 3:

1. Aramark lays out fall campus dining plans

Aramark, which operates dining services at hundreds of colleges and universities across the U.S., is introducing a variety of new programs and service offerings for the fall. Among them are an expanded Quick Eats Grab & Go program to include a full offering of hot and cold items for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack occasions; technology solutions like Mashgin cashless/touchless self-checkout and the Good Uncle app-based on-demand food delivery service; and Local Restaurant Row, a concept that rotates local establishments to create a sense of community, support local business and combat menu fatigue.

Read more: Aramark Prepared to Welcome College Students Back to Campuses Across the Country

2. Facebook extends work-from-home through next July

In an ominous sign for onsite dining programs in Silicon Valley, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a weekly Q&A virtual meeting with employees that the company would be extending its policy for corporate employees to work from home until July 2021. Previously, Facebook said employees would start returning to its offices in January 2021.

While many of Facebook’s corporate engineers, designers, and business managers can mostly perform their jobs from home, it’s unclear what will happen to the thousands of service workers who normally keep Facebook’s physical offices running. Facebook uses third-party contractors to staff positions such as janitors, cafeteria workers and shuttle bus drivers who take corporate employees to work and home.

Read more: Facebook is extending its work-from-home policy until July 2021

3. Major North Texas school districts outline fall dining plans

Dallas ISD plans to offer both virtual and face-to-face learning when school starts on Sept. 8. That means, there will be designated areas that will be utilized for lunch. These areas could include the cafeteria, the library, or other large areas within the school building.

Plano ISD taking a similar approach to Dallas when it comes to in-person lunches while Fort Worth ISD is sticking to their spring meal curbside plan. For Arlington ISD, students will get basically what they got before the pandemic, but this time with a few more options. There will be 30 distribution sites set up across Arlington ISD.

Read more: North Texas School Districts Lay Out Plans to Feed Kids Safely

4. Tents to provide extra dining space at Baylor

Sixteen large tents are going up on the Baylor University campus as part of the preparation for a safe student experience during the pandemic. The tents are designed to be a spot for study space for an overflow crowd at libraries and academic buildings. They will also be outside all dining halls.

“What that’s gonna allow us to do is to decrease the density in our existing campus buildings by increasing the amount of square footage that we have available for dining overflow. For gathering spaces, study spaces, or even some student evenings in the meetings,” Baylor’s Vice President for Marketing and Communications Jason Cook says.

Read more: Tents to go up on Baylor campus as preps are made for fall semester

5. Thompson Hospitality to purchase bankrupt restaurant chain

Washington D.C.-based Matchbox Restaurant Group has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and will be sold to Thompson Hospitality, pending bankruptcy court approval. Thompson is a major foodservice contract management company that placed ninth on the 2020 FM Top 50 Contract Management Companies listing with estimated 2019 revenues of $760 million.

Matchbox, which has 10 D.C.-area locations as well as units in Sunrise, Fla., and Dallas, partnered with Thompson two years ago to manage its restaurants and develop new ones.

Read more: Matchbox Restaurant Group files for bankruptcy, to be sold to Thompson Hospitality

Bonus: Grab and go is the word for the fall semester but comfort foods still on the menu

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]