Dear All,

We did it! A giant heartfelt THANK YOU goes out to everyone!  With the help of many, UMass cooked up the world’s largest stir-fry of 4,010 pounds of ingredients and smashed the previous set world record of 2,319-pounds.

Most of you know that stir-fry is one of the most popular foods at the dining commons. Not only is it healthy, but it is tasty as well. All the vegetables for this event came from local sources including our own student-run farms, the UMass permaculture garden and other local farms.

We could not have made this world record-breaking event happen without the help of everyone, notably the College of Engineering, College of Natural Science, Physical Plant, EH&S, UMass Relations, Amherst Fire Department, Student Affairs and Campus Life, Center for Student Development, News Office, All-Steel Fabrication, UMass Police, Vice Chancellor Joyce Hatch, the Chancellor’s office, sponsors, local famers, guest chefs, staff, volunteers and You, the students of UMass.

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Special thanks goes to Chancellor Holub, our leader, and our cheerleader for the past three years, whose support for this event was invaluable. Our honorary “chef chancellor” helped stir right along with everyone and fondly worked to proudly set another record for UMass.

Go UMass!!!

Ken Toong

Executive Director of Auxiliary Enterprises

How’s your summer been? Mine has been full of conferences, meetings, planning—and a small vacation. This blog post is a collection of observations, thoughts, and ideas from campus and beyond.

During the summer months, some of you might think life as an auxiliary services director is easier. True, there are only a few students on campus. But while 95% of our business is conducted during the school year, summer can be just as busy. It’s a different kind of busy. On campus we accommodate conference groups and run our retail cash business. We have fewer managers on duty. We schedule our staff according to seniority, and we operate fewer locations.

Conference groups are fun. In the past, we’ve hosted everyone from 500 female professors from around the world to a group of students from Pakistan. This week, we had several hundred guests from a religious group. Next week, we will be hosting the Northeast Organic Farming Association. I enjoy talking with our customers, and I always learn something new.

Apart from hosting conference groups, I spend a lot of times in meetings. I usually have five meetings a day. There is so much planning that needs to be done before the students return, but I enjoy this part.

Here’s an average day:

Schedule 7/26
8 a.m. Joyce, Claudia, Andy, Ruth, Lynda K. re. Campus Center renovation. 337A Whitmore
10:30 a.m. AFSAS. 337A Whitmore
1-4 p.m. Food Service Managers Meeting. Board Room, Worcester
4:30 p.m. Meet with Tunde G.

Tales from the Road (and the Sky)
Recently I took a Delta flight to California with a stop in Minneapolis. I expected it to be just another routine stopover. What made it a little more interesting was an announcement from the flight deck. The pilot was flying his last route before retiring after 35 years of service. He guaranteed that the landing was going to be perfect. The passengers cheered at the announcement. I think we all kept the pilot’s experience in mind while we were flying through some turbulent spots. After a near perfect landing, our plane was greeted with a fire truck parked next to the gate. I was a bit worried, at first thinking that there might be something wrong with the plane. Not at all. We were doused with water from the fire truck as a send-off to the pilot and a way to thank him for his work. I managed to have a photo with him, thanked him, and wished him well.

When I’m in a major hub like the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, I always study the food scene to check for trends. It‘s a good way to gather information, since busy retail locations mirror what we do on campus. That‘s how we discovered the French Meadow Bakery. I noticed the concept, the “organic and fresh” French Meadow at an airport I was passing through. It was just as busy as the nearby Burger King. I believe 50% of us want to eat healthy and 50% still want to go to a place that is familiar. French Meadow fulfills the demand from the 50% of customers who are looking for healthier options. Before long, we brought French Meadow to UMass.

Princeton Review
Now, some big news: This week, we were rated #10 in The Princeton Review’s Best 376 Colleges 2012 for Best Campus Food. We were thrilled. What makes this ranking so sweet is that the survey gathered information from our students and customers. It‘s so nice to be recognized by our customers and it reconfirmed our mission of putting students first is the right thing to do. This would not be possible without our dedicated staff and the support we receive from everyone at this great university. I humbly thank you. We will continue to work hard and improve. I promise.
This is Ken Toong. 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

Several managers of UMass dining team and I headed to Dallas recently for the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) conference. We look forward to the annual conference for gathering information, learning from the peers, renewing friendships, and having fun. This year was not different.

My first lesson this trip was that everything really is bigger in Texas. It was my first time in the Dallas Fort Worth airport, which has five terminals, 155 gates, and covers more than 29.8 square miles—the size of Manhattan. I did not realize how big the airport was until I missed an exit on my way to the hotel. It took me 10 minutes just to find the next exit that would lead me out of the airport. The place is massive.

The host hotel for the conference, the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, was just as grand. It comprises three Texas-themed glass atriums, four-and-a-half acres of lush indoor gardens, and 1,500 rooms. Billed as the official hotel of the Dallas Cowboys, the magnificent Gaylord Texan pays tribute to everything Texas as only Texas can: on a big scale. One of managers told me later that it took him more than 15 minutes to get from the front desk to his room. (For the record, I did not stay there—it was just too big for me. I chose a smaller hotel with better room rates.)

During the conference, our sustainability specialist, Ryan, and I did a presentation on permaculture—regenerative eco-social land use. Ryan’s passion for promoting permaculture on campus is second to none, and the discussion was well received by conference attendees. He deserves a BIG, Texas-style thank you.

During the week, we were also invited to tour the Cowboys stadium. As some of you know, I am a big fan of the Cowboys, and I wouldn’t have missed the tour for anything. As our bus approached, we saw the massive structure come into view, as grand as it looks on TV. I cannot find words to describe the tour. The stadium was jaw dropping, and we saw almost all of it. I never thought that I would ever see the inside the Cowboys locker room—but we did. In the stadium, the giant TV monitor was 160 feet long—more than half a football field—and 72 feet high. It was just so amazing! (Welcome to Jerry’s world.) The details put into the stadium and the way it can transform to accommodate many kinds of events is truly genius. Even if you are not a Cowboys fan, the stadium is impressive.

We also met the executive chef of the stadium, who gave us the kitchen tour. The kitchen, with its bells and whistles, was very similar to our Berkshire DC  kitchen on the lower level: it was spic-and-span and full of equipment. I asked one of the servers how the food was. He said people come here for the game, but the food is fine. I tasted the mac &cheese, Caesar salad and chicken nuggets, and…hmm, I think the food is better at Berkshire.

But the amount of food that this stadium serves is outstanding. At the Super Bowl last February, the 100,000+ audience members consumed the following:

• 12 tons of nachos
• 8,000 pounds of hot dogs
• 5,000 pounds of popcorn
• 15,000 beef sliders
• More than 10,000 pieces of sushi
• 15,625 gallons of soda
• 8,000 gallons of water

In addition, 3,000 people worked concessions.

I asked the chef if he thought there would be a NFL season this year despite the lockout, which at the time was still going on during our tour. “Yes,” he said with a wide, Texan-style smile.

This is Ken Toong. 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

 

Last week, I attended the FARE (Foodservice at Retail Exchange) conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was hot, with temperatures soaring as high as 115F. The conference chair joked that the weather was ideal: the heat would keep us inside and away from the temptation to sightsee. I participated on a panel with peers from other segments of the foodservice industry. Our panel discussed everything from the changing consumer mindset, to the success of fast-casual restaurants and the growing interest in healthy eating. The session moved quickly as we shared our experiences—we offered a view from the street, so to speak. We also heard from experts from research firms NDP Group and Technomic, who presented market research on these trends.

My colleagues and I were not necessarily in agreement with the market research findings. For instance, one market research presenter said the recession was not yet over and predicted little growth for the next few years in the restaurant business. Because of the permanent change in the consumer mindset, the researcher indicated, foodservice operators needed to be creative and value-driven. Less than 10% of customers are looking for healthy options or are willing to pay more when they dine out, the market research indicated.

I beg to differ. I told the audience that most of our customers (ages 18-24) expect healthy options to be available. They want food that not only tastes good but also is good for them. Our students support sustainability, want high-quality food, and enjoy a variety of cuisines. I acknowledge that compared with traditional restaurants, we have not suffered in the same way during the recession. Our customers dine with us several times a day. We are their home away from home. and it is our job to provide our students with a positive dining experience.

These points were driven home when my daughter and I started our own mini-culinary tour of Arizona after the conference. My millennial daughter does not like fast-food restaurants. She looked up local restaurants on Yelp.com before we decided where to eat. Every place had to have a four-star Yelp rating (but guess who paid the bill?).

We tried two restaurants in Flagstaff and two in Scottsdale. The first was Los Altenos, a mom-and-pop place serving homemade Mexican food. In my daughter’s words, it was “a bit seedy inside, but the service was great and the food was tasty! There were big portions of food with an authentic Mexican feel to the place.” As for the value, I paid only $3.99 for soft tacos of rice and beans.

The second place we visited in Flagstaff was Pizza Furiosa. My pizza with pesto sauce and walnut was fresh and yummy. Not only did the chef-owner make everything from scratch, the service was also friendly.

Next one, we went to the ready to eat section of the Whole Foods Market in Paradise Valley, a small town in Maricopa County, Arizona. Wow, such a great place to pick up dinner or pick up stuff to make dinner. Everything looks fresh, colorful and the staff are friendly. I tasted the chilled mango soup, it was out of this world. It was fresh, healthy, vegetarian and the ginger gave you an extra kick.

The last place we tried was Pita Jungle in Scottsdale, which is part of a small, fast-casual Mediterranean chain based in Tempe, Arizona. The fattoush salad was huge; it could feed a small family. It was also a bit bland. There is probably no one on earth that would want to eat so many lentils during one meal. But the hot pita was fresh and good and price was great. For the two of us, the bill came to $28.

All four places shared something in common that can be summed up in three words: fresh, simple and flavorful. I intend to keep these attributes in mind when we start serving a new class of students at UMass Dining this fall.

This is Ken Toong. 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 hosted the 17th annual Tastes of the World Chef Culinary Conference over a week ago, and I am still reflecting on what I learned. More than 200 participants joined us for what may have been our best conference yet. Sure, it took a lot of work to make it happen, but the time flew by. The conference started Sunday, yet before we knew it Friday, the final day, had come and gone. And we continue to receive complements from participants on how much they enjoyed the conference.

This year’s theme was Simple Food, Healthy Eating. We focused on ways to develop straightforward, flavorful menus that also leverage local, seasonal ingredients. The conference addressed ways to reduce processed-food use, preparation steps in the kitchens (while maintaining the consistency needed with volume cooking), and fuss when serving food to customers. In other words, we wanted to uncover tips on serving meals that are simple to prepare, simple to cook, simple to serve, and—most importantly—simply delicious.

Here, comments from a few presenters:

• Chef and author Joyce Goldstein kicked off the conference by talking about why she’s in favor of the USDA’s My Plate guidelines. She had been advocating for new guidelines to replace the food pyramid for the past three decades. If the My Plate suggestions are followed, they can lead us toward healthier menu planning, she said.
• When Chef John Ash asked delegates to pledge to reduce sodium content in the foods we serve, it was a defining moment of the conference. We all need to reduce sodium for our health.
• CEO Steve Sweeney requested that we take care of employees and stay thin. If we take care of our staff, our staff will take care of the business. As leaders, we also need to stay healthy and lead by example, he stressed.
• Former White House Chef Roland Mesnier encouraged us to exercise and to eat intelligently. It’s not about good food or bad food, he said, it’s about exercising.
• The Directors’ Roundtable urged chefs and dietitians to continue working together on developing healthier dishes.
• Chef Jet Tila spoke about ingredient diversity. There are so many good, different brands of soy sauce out there, he explained, that there’s no reason to limit ourselves to one brand.

More conference highlights:

We didn’t just talk about food; we also ate some terrific healthy options. Some examples: Chef Roberto Santibañez’s fruit salad with cucumber, Chef Mark Miller’s tamales, Chef Neela Paniz’s pan-fried fish, Chef John Ash’s tofu-egg salad, and Chef Chai Siriyarn’s rice noodles.

We also got cooking: Faculty members from Johnson & Wales University gave us a refresher course on the principles of simple, healthful cooking. Later, team competitions stressed the importance of working together, staying focused, and keeping things simple.

Even though the conference has come to an end, it’s clear that the train of simple food and healthy eating has left the station—and there’s no going back. We will continue to provide healthy food with good flavors for our customers.

This is Ken Toong. 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