Just say Boo…
Halloween at UMass is always one of students’ favorite events of the year and that includes me. To many students, it’s our famed lobster night and a fun time with the chance to dress up and head to the DCs for the costume contest. This year, the Halloween date fell on Saturday, which was a first time in the past eight years to occur on a weekend. We did not know what to expect in terms of attendance as a number of students go home for the weekend. We decided to do a quick poll and students overwhelmingly wanted us to host the event on the Saturday, instead of Friday, as it would be more festive to do so.
I love lobster, especially the hard-shelled type. My birthday also happens to fall on Halloween. All these years at UMass, I have always been busy at work and usually my wife is busy at home passing out trick and treat candy. All in all, I don’t think I have had many birthday cakes over the years, but I am not complaining for having to eat lobster instead.
Four weeks before the Halloween special, Martha, our special events manager, and I talked about how to make it even more exciting and to focus on serving as much local food as possible. We planned to hire two DJs, and have more photographers and more table magicians than in previous years. In terms of food, we planned to have 10,000 customers and serve 12,000 pounds of lobster, 5,000 New York strip steaks, 3,500 pieces of chicken, 175 gallons of chowder, 200 gallons of mulled cider and 5,000 candied apples – with everything served in a “small plate, big flavor” manner.
I arrived at Worcester, at around 4:30 pm on Saturday and we had line-ups at every DC as we passed out coffee mugs for the first 100 customers at each DC. However, we were ready for a big crowd. Around 5 pm, more students arrived and we were getting super busy. I noticed more than 30% of the students had costumes on and our staff were busy snapping pictures. We dimed the lights down a bit and with the music on, it sure created a festive atmosphere. I was busy walking back and forth in Worcester to ensure we were serving as quickly as we could; no problem, our students were happy. I had a bite of lobster before I toured Franklin. The lobster was delicious and fresh, having arrived from Maine earlier in the day.
On my way to Franklin DC, I heard there was a fire alarm at Berkshire and I just hoped it was a false alarm – it turned out to be caused by the smoke being drawn into the loading dock area, from the grilling of steak outside (apparently, the DJ had parked his vehicle in the locking dock area so that the door could not close properly). Franklin was great and we had line ups everywhere and in the end we opened four serving lines. I was able to snap several pictures before I left for Berkshire.
When I arrived at Berkshire, things are back to normal following the fire alarm, and it was really busy as well; we served over 2000 by 6:30 pm. Manager Ryan and his crew had the place decked out with Halloween displays and plenty of dry ice, and on top of everything, we even served sushi. The music was great and the DJ, dressed in costume, and was even accompanied by a dancing skeleton. Students and family that I talked to, simply loved the special.
Later, I stopped by Hampshire DC and had a quick dinner break there. Manager Peter wanted me to try his lobster and steak – an offer I couldn’t refuse. It was delicious!
Around 8:30 pm, I was back at Worcester DC; there were still lines and we were short of lobster. Students waited patiently as more arrived from Berkshire.
I bumped into some students outside Worcester; they told me it was the “can’t miss it special of the year”. They asked me if Bill Cosby have something to do with it. I thanked them and told them it was our treat to students and UMass Dining paid the expenses.
Boo… hoo, now its over; but look for more specials to come!
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