Welcome to the Future of UMass Dining
To upgrade our dining facilities, UMass Dining is planning a $55 million renovation. If all goes as planned, it will take five years from start to finish, an ambitious goal. But because we saw great results from our Berkshire DC renovation nearly five years ago, we know that physical improvements enhance our services and consumer satisfaction tremendously. The Hampshire DC will be our first target: the dining commons will undergo a major facility improvement. Soon after, we will start building a new café at the Commonwealth Honor College. In addition, we plan on renovating the Campus Center concourse— including the Bluewall Café, and the Library Café. Worcester DC, our largest dining commons, will also receive a major makeover.
Our student lifestyle has changed—students want to be able to eat anywhere, anytime, and anyplace on campus. We noticed students enjoy grab-n-go concepts during the day, while at night they prefer to go back to their familiar dining locations to share food and stories at a table with friends.
Sure, $55 million is not a drop in the bucket. However, we feel this campus upgrade is needed. Most of our facilities were built nearly 50 years ago. But as our dining concepts become more sophisticated and the number of students on a meal plan grows, we need new facilities that can better handle changes, and in a more energy efficient, greener way.
We also want to be more entertaining, which brings me to my next subject: Eataly. Brought to New York City through a partnership of culinary stars, including Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich, and Oscar Farinetti, it is the largest artisanal Italian food marketplace in the United States. It includes a retail center for Italian delicacies, a culinary educational center, and a diverse selection of boutique eateries. I consider it a food superstor, but it’s not like a department store. A visit feels more like a walk through the entire culinary landscape of Italy, from its meats and cheeses, to its endless pastas and its desserts. It is a comprehensive homage to all things Italian food from Sicilia to Veneto—and then some. The breadth and depth of the offerings here lift it nearly to museum status.
My wife and I visited the venue about a month ago. We didn’t spend as much time eating as we did simply browsing and exploring. The dining area, a mishmash of concepts, had customers seated together or near each other. Eataly is a space where different people can have different dining experiences while seated almost side by side in the same space. It felt like an old-world market, modernized.
Eataly is not the perfect food superstore. There isn’t any Asian, Mexican, or New England fare. Some of the prices are on the expensive side. I’d like to see a similar concept that includes sushi, stir-fry, tapas and tacos. Still, Eataly is impressive. Some of my managers, our chef, an architect, and a food consultant will be heading to Eataly this week to gather ideas that might impact our renovations. You never know—we might come away with major inspiration for a new eatery at UMass.
This is Ken Toong. Thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.
Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu
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