About three weeks ago, we ran a “I Love the DC” essay contest at UMass. We asked our students on the meal plan to tell us some of the reasons why they loved the DCs, in 200 words or less. When you serve over 40,000 meals daily, we often hear that our customers really enjoy our food and service, and some of them even brag about it. The objective of the contest was to find out what our students really think about us. We also expected some not-so-positive comments because sometimes you just can’t please everyone! Our goal was to hear from customers and see how we can better serve them in the future (if there were any negative remarks). This year there were 14,000 some students on the meal plan, with over 2000 being seniors; they dined with us for the past four years, they are very loyal and some of them have turned into what you call “foodies”. We did not know what to expect with our request, but we wanted to hear from them anyway.

We received about 60 entries for the essay contest in two weeks; this was wonderful. There were many excellent essays and we were humbled by reading some of the positive experiences at UMass Dining. The judges had a difficult time in making the winning decision. The criteria for being winner was based on originality, content, organization and eligibility. We ended up with first, second and third place winners, plus four honorable mentions.

Many of the contestants mentioned about how the DCs helped to build a sense of community, to provide their second ‘home away from home’, and to create memorable UMass experiences, not to mention the good food and the variety of options to eat. It was nice to know, but made me feel kind of sad, when the seniors expressed how much they are going to miss UMass Dining. During the commencement exercise a few weeks ago on Saturday, when one of the student speakers talked about they how will miss the smiling faces of one of our cashiers at Berkshire DC, the audience cheered with approval.
We intend to post all the entries soon. It was a fun contest to run and the response exceeded my expectations. Thanks for loving the DC too!

This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.

Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu

You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong

We are winding down to the last few days of the school year and we are opening the DC’s longer – until 2:00 am for late night brunch. Last night we served more than 2000 students from 9 to 2:00 am. It seems that there are still plenty of students dining with us but it gets quieter each day as students depart for summer.

I had the opportunity of running into a father tonight that was here to pick up his son, a junior, and they both dined with us before heading home. He asked if I remembered him; I said, “ yes, you are the dentist from the greater Boston area.” I first met him during move-in day three years ago and have not seen him since until today. He started to tell me how much his son enjoyed the school and the food on campus. As a matter of fact, during the first few days of the son’s freshmen year, he texted his father frequently, to tell him about the quality and variety of food on campus. Obviously the father was pleased how well we took care of his sons’ needs. He continued in saying that he now recommends that patients go to UMass and check out the fine dining that we have.

I thanked him and told him we will continue to get better and that we plan to roll out Peruvian and Korean cuisine next. I felt by the end of our conversation that we were just like old friends that seldom see each other.

It really makes my day when I hear from a parent giving us compliments about our food and how much they enjoy it and how we take care of providing their student’s meals while they are away from home, leaving more time to focus on studies.

This week, as mentioned, we are staying open longer until 2:00 am to provide snacks for late night dining. We did it last semester for four nights; this spring we expanded it to six nights, since it was such a hit. For the seniors, we will be open this Friday, the day before commencement in order to serve them one last meal.

It has been a busy and crazy week; but I have been enjoying every minute of it.

PS UMass Dining said their good byes to the seniors; many joined us for a group photo (to be posted online). I thanked all of them for dining with us during the past four years – a lot don’t want to leave; but hopefully during their time with us their culinary knowledge has been expanded and their minds have been opened to experiencing food from different cultures.

All the Best in the Future from your Friends at UMass Dining!

This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.

Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu

You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong

Yesterday afternoon, we were in the process of getting ready to host a Northeast BBQ in the northeast quad for the Worcester and Franklin students. It was to be our annual event to celebrate the end of semester and we expected 3000 students to join us. The weather was a bit cloudy but nothing unusual. We knew there was only a 20% chance of rain in the afternoon but figured it might miss us. Suddenly at approximately 4:15 pm, I noticed there was a brown sky filled with blowing sand and high winds, in front of the Worcester office window. It was getting intense; I grabbed my camera and took several pictures and yelled at Manager Martha to watch with me. Then I realized it was a serious situation as I witnessed the wind topple the row of our three tents. I rushed downstairs toward the BBQ site. It was a big mess with food and equipment scattered all over the place and in the midst of it, our staff was busy trying to clean up. I met manager Tim and our first priority was to see if anyone was injured. Unfortunately, there were five staff members who were slightly injured, including one person who suffered a broken rib and another person injured their neck; all due to flying debris and tent poles that collapsed. We cancelled the BBQ immediately, cleaned up everything and moved the function indoors as soon as possible since the students were expecting to eat.

That’s not the end of the story; there were also power outages at Worcester which made matters worse. We could not open the kitchen right away since most of the equipment and ventilation are powered by electricity. With quick thinking of our manager Marc, we sent half of the staff back to Franklin (they still had power being on the same grid as the UMass health care site), to reopen as quickly as possible along with some staff from Worcester. It was not an easy task, since we had already shipped most of our food to the BBQ and most of it was no longer safe to eat. We started by providing soup, deli items and salads and gradually provided hot items. Our students understood the situation and were very grateful.

At the same time, Worcester was turned into a medical triage. EMT and police attended to any injuries, while we prepared to resume cooking once the power was up and running.

Worcester reopened last night at 6:15 and things slowly returned to normal.

What impressed me most in the wake of the storm was that there were many and I mean MANY students who volunteered to help us clean up and pick up the damaged food items. A special thanks goes to the UMass Muslim Student Association. It took us less than an hour to clean up after such a mess. We really appreciated their assistance and it made me so proud of the UMass community as we worked together to pick up the pieces, so to speak. It was quite an experience for all of us. However, we made it through with the helping hands of so many.

This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.

Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu

You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong

I usually don’t work at school on weekends, but for special occasions I do, and love it. Saturday, we catered to the participants of the Daffodil Lectures on Sustainability and the Environment, part of the Commonwealth Honors College’s 10th anniversary celebrations. This was a big deal for us. We were honored by the Commonwealth to promote UMass Dining by having the delegates eat at the DC’s because of the great food and more importantly, for the global cuisine, promoting healthy eating and buying locally. To make it more fun, the college also had the chancellor and deans serve hors d’oeuvres to the guests.

We met with staff of Commonwealth College several times to ensure it would be a successful event. The Berkshire Room is a nice private dining area connected to the DC and our executive chef Willie and catering director Brenda and manager Ryan were also involved in the planning. We knew we could pull it off and we wanted everything to be perfect.

We were quite busy all evening, in fact, it seems that there is never a slow day at Berkshire. We serve an average of 7000 customers per day including 4000 for the evening and late night. The plan was have a brief reception in the Berkshire Room and guests were invited to go through our ten stations and get whatever they wanted to eat. We wanted our guests to experience what we offer to our students daily.

Things went like clock work. It was fun to see the chancellor and deans wearing chef jackets and being part of the wait staff, if only for half hour or so. They seemed to enjoy it and one of them mentioned that it was not easy to be a server. Later everyone went out and sampled different food from each station. The sushi and the stir-fry concept were their favorites. They could not believe that our student sushi chef rolled up sushi, one roll at a time. The same comments were heard from everyone, that eating in the Dining Commons is not what it used to be, it is better. When I told many alum in attendance that they are probably eating at one of the best Dining Commons in the country, their eyes widened and they smiled saying they could understand why and that they wanted to go back to school.

Sunday was another busy day with 1900 students and parents visiting – we had lots of fun with them and shared good food stories with them. We were even able to convince a few to choose UMass rather than another school, just because of the food!

This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top.

Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu

You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong

During the last several weeks, I had many opportunities to talk to several parents and incoming students about the meal plan and the type of program we offer to our students. It is always nice to talk to the newcomers and tell them all about UMass; with my experience of sending two daughters to this school, being an alumnus and after working for the UMass for 11 years, it comes naturally. It seems that quite a few of the parents have already heard or read that we have a strong program and when I told them we are purchasing 25% locally and offering healthy options, they are thrilled to hear that, not to mention parents and family always dine free at the DCs with their students on the meal plan. To eat locally produced food at a meal with their son or daughter, what a great deal for our parents when they visit our campus. Using local food means food is fresher, it helps to reduce the carbon footprint and to also preserve valuable farmland in Massachusetts. We are also purchasing 11% of food, other than produce, from local industries such as salad dressing, pizza dough, bake goods, butcher shop items, etc.

I shared the same message with my 26 peers during a Foodservice Directors Symposium sponsored by The National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) in Charleston recently, that a strong dining program can enhance campus life, build community and attract new students. We need to provide the variety of food that students want and create value in everything we do. We all share a passion to put students first and we all have similar programs in place. It is hard to import a ‘best’ model from one school to another, since we are all different in terms of demographics, residential vs. commuter students, and culinary excellence and financial expectations of each school. Some schools like to have a national fast food presence and others like UMass prefer local/ regional concepts or none at all. We share best practices; but let me tell you, compared to our peer schools, UMass has one of the most innovative dining programs that they look up to. I think the key is to strike a happy balance, in providing national versus local brands, when catering to the students’ needs.

Some directors mentioned that students talk about wanting healthy choices but act differently, and also complain about not having enough choices on campus. As you see, campus operators have a captive but demanding audience. Students want food that offers variety, and is flavorful and healthy. It is not an easy task to do so, as the students eat with us several times a day, 7 days a week.

For UMass, we implemented a stealth health program with many healthy options and weekly specials help to break any monotony of eating. After all, we want students to eat well and live well.

This week is the Taste of UMass and Earth Week; come and join the fun and help make our environment a better place.

This is Ken Toong and thank you for keeping UMass Dining at the top

Contact Ken at ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu

You can follow Ken Toong on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/KenToong