In pre-Covid days, communal dining in packed college and university dining halls and corporate cafeterias was the rule.
Of course, things are different now. The path to recovery leads through innovative dining formats and technologies that address the new realities of post-pandemic life. One of those is the need to supplement, if not replace, traditional high-volume foodservice facilities with venues that are less crowded, more convenient and arguably safer.
C&U lessons learned
“Retail dining had already been growing on campuses pre-Covid,” noted a June 2021 article in Food Management. With the pandemic highlighting the safety and efficiency benefits of spreading foodservice across multiple distribution points, such decentralized dining options are poised to assume a greater share of C&U dining volume from large residential dining halls.
For example, the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York, transformed Gracie’s, its largest all-you-care-to-eat dining hall, into an à la carte retail food court this year. “In the fall of 2019, Gracie’s was serving about 2,000 to 2,500 meals a day,” says Don LaFlam, RIT executive director of dining, in an RIT university news article. “In the fall of 2020, they were serving about 650 meals a day. Those extra meals were being absorbed into our retail operations across the campus. It became pretty apparent our students wanted that type of spending.” Now, at the updated Gracie’s, students pay à la carte for the items they order rather than a set all-you-care-to-eat price.
An AI-powered technology platform makes picking up food fast and safe at Market Next, a touchless, cashier-free, 24-hour retail outlet in a retrofitted campus convenience store at the University of Houston (Texas), according to a university news article. The school opened it last fall along with Chartwells Higher Education, its foodservice provider, and Standard Cognition, a tech company. Students simply walk into Market Next, take snacks, beverages, sandwiches or microwavable items and walk out. A system of ceiling-mounted cameras and proprietary artificial intelligence and machine-vision software handles payment automatically, the article explains.
Corporate dining adjusts
For America’s corporations, the all in-person workplace “is no longer the norm,” reports the PwC US Pulse Survey Next in Work. According to the survey, in fall 2021, 33% of corporate executives plan to have a mixed model of in-person, hybrid and fully remote work, 19% will have all in-person, 18% will have a mixture of in-person and hybrid and 18% will be all hybrid.
Those findings signal the need for innovative formats to serve offices with limited or fluctuating headcounts that do not justify a full-scale cafeteria. One solution is True Eats, a hybrid foodservice and market concept by Aramark. With a customizable footprint of 650 sq. ft. to 1,250 sq. ft., it offers freshly prepared food, a 24/7 market and kiosk ordering, plus it “can service up to 1,500 employees and is operated by as few as two staff members,” per a company blog post.
Another flexible tech solution is Cloud Café, billed as “a personalized digital cafeteria for your company” by its developer, ZeroCater, a corporate catering and snack company. Cloud Café “enables employees to choose their own daily meals from thousands of individually boxed menu items provided by top-rated culinary partners” and gives companies “unmatched flexibility by letting each employee pay for all, some or none of their meals.”
Gaining control
Against this backdrop, operators are grappling with a need unchanged since day one of the pandemic—controlling labor and food costs. Many have already reduced kitchen teams, simplified menus and moved to ready-to-use premium proteins.
A leading example of the latter is the Boar’s Head Bold® line of fully cooked, whole-muscle meats, which helps operators rein in costs while satisfying the demand for global and regional American flavors. These seasoned, premium meats can be shaved, diced, cubed, chopped, pulled, shredded and otherwise fashioned any number of ways. Thus Boar’s Head Bold premium meats are versatile building blocks for signature dishes across all dayparts and meal occasions.
For example, showcase the enticing flavors of a Bold Ichiban Teriyaki Style Chicken Bowl. It features Boar’s Head Bold® Ichiban Teriyaki® Style Chicken cut in julienne shapes and served over fragrant basmati rice with fresh vegetables and chiles and a teriyaki drizzle.
Or menu flavorful and satisfying Ham, Apple and Brie Grilled Cheese sandwiches, made with Boar’s Head Bold BourbonRidge® Uncured Smoked Ham, creamy French brie and crisp, green apple slices.
Replacing laborious scratch cooking with ready-to-use Boar’s Head® meats in this way gives operators a major productivity win and eases their labor cost pressures.
To receive a sample of Boar’s Head® products, visit boarsheadfoodservice.com/takeflavorfurther. Find product information, menu inspiration and recipes, and more at boarshead.com/products/bold.
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