My First Week
Congratulations to our webmaster Todd, who is getting married next week; we have had so much information for him to post before his big day. Todd is an alum of UMass, a great graphic designer and avid diver. UMass Dining website has come a long way since it started three years ago and Todd has had a lot to do with it. It is one of the most popular websites on campus and it will continue to get better.
My first week at UMass this fall began this past Friday; we were busy to get ready for the move-in day. Then came a surprise from the town of Amherst that we might have to boil our drinking water due to positive samples of coliform bacteria. But the boiled water order would not be necessary if further test were found positive on Saturday. This could have been the worst time of the year since students were moving in and we have over 14000 students on the meal plan. Immediately, we came up an action plan including a revised menu and no fountain drinks and coffee. We also ordered 600 bottles of 5 gallon spring water just in case. On Saturday, most of the senior staff and Emergency Operations Center (EMC) officials of UMass were either on call or on campus to wait for the ‘boil water’ order. We were in constant contact with EH&S and EMC officials all morning. Several managers and I were waiting patiently on Saturday morning. We went over our action plan several times. Luckily, we got the good news at 3 pm that the ‘boil water’ alert was canceled as more samples were negative Everything went back to normal; sometimes we do not realize how important safe water is for all of us, especially at a large operation such as UMass Dining. I can assure everyone that UMass is working hard to ensure that the water is always safe to drink for our students and guests.
Then came the big, move-in day on Sunday. Everything went like clock work. We served over 8000 meals and some of the locations such as Berkshire and Worcester were extremely busy. It was nice to see new students and parents again as I met some of them during the Student Orientation Program in June and July. Maybe, many of our parents were there to see Mai Pham, the chef and owner of Lemon Grass Restaurant and one of the top 10 restaurants in Sacramento, Calif., who brought authentic Vietnamese cuisine to the Berkshire DC. The food was just delicious. I had a bit of everything from Cucumber Salad, Thai Green Curry with shrimp (who doesn’t like Thai food) to Biryani Chicken and rice. The flavor profile was delicious and customers enjoyed the smaller portions. One parents told me how much they really enjoyed the Vietnamese and Thai Cuisine and many of them are looking forward to visiting us again.
Later I was told that our new Chancellor Holub and his family were at Berkshire too, to greet the students and have a bite to eat. It was very nice for the Chancellor to do that and especially during the move-in day.
On Monday was our Welcome Back All Green BBQ. From the sliders, milk, potatoes, corn, salads, fruits to ice cream, everything was from local sources. Not only that, we also used corn-made disposable ware and composted everything. Students appreciated the idea of going green and we were glad to oversee the event. Our waste management worked hard to compost any leftovers from having fed 6000 people.
Our late night brunch was a little quieter than we thought it would be. Maybe our students were busy touring the campus and town. For those of them that came, some of them were asking about 24/7 services. I enjoyed meeting them and welcoming new students to UMass.
Ken Toong
Director
Contact Ken atktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu