What’s your most memorable meal?
March 8th, 2010
I just got back yesterday from attending the COEX2010- Chain Operators Exchange Conference in Orlando, hosted by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) and chaired by Kevin Bechtel, Senior Vice President of Shari’s Management Corporation; the goal was to bring together the foodservice chain operators such as Bertucci’s, Red Lobster, and suppliers, with the theme for the conference “Customers Rule”. This was my first trip to this particular conference and I was joined by many of my peers from Berkeley, Vanderbilt and Iowa for a panel discussion, on the topic of Campus Dining: Tomorrow’s Customers Today. I was quite excited to be there for several reasons, to gather information on: the latest trends, consumer eating behaviors (a study from the industry experts), and insight on how the restaurant chains operate in menu development and innovation; in addition, to meeting supply chain partners. I was not disappointed except for the weather. It was cool (50 plus) by Florida standards; perhaps, it was a good thing because we had Disney distractions only minutes away.
Several presentations were on value, sustainability and menu innovations; I found one question that most interested me was on “memorable meals”, that is, what are some of the best things on the menu that your customers will remember. It might be the quality of food, or the great service, or a nice surprise even, that might create a lasting memory at a mealtime. It is a lofty goal to do so; most of us in the food business strive to create an experience for each meal. At UMass, our 14,000 students eat with us several times per day, and they are looking for new varieties of food daily and weekly. I don’t blame them – I would expect the same thing. That is why we have so many weekly specials to keep our students interested. For me there have been quite a few really memorable meals at the DCs, including the stir-fry, the sushi, the beef brisket noodle bowl, the lobster dinner and the guest chef series. What’s yours?
In terms of our panel discussion on Campus Dining, it went well. Nancy Kruse, the moderator, started off the session with a presentation articulating that College and University foodservice is arguably the most complex and creative segment of the food services industry and how we are catering to today’s students’ needs, the people who will be the customers of tomorrow for the chain restaurants; then she prompted us with questions.
I told the audience that Sushi, Stir-fry, sliders, and non-sugary drinks are all popular on the campus and that restaurants should offer smaller portions, less-processed food, reduce the sodium content, offer healthier options and buy more locally grown items. Shawn, my peer from Berkeley mentioned that students are breakfast healthy, but turn to more high calorie comfort foods such as wings, and pizza for late night snacks. We all agreed that students want foods to be fresh, tasty and prepared in front of them.
When all is said and done, UMass Dining wants to create memorable meals every day.
This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Ken Toong
Director
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu
You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong

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