In a collaborative effort with Team Green, the Muslim Students Association and other student organizations, UR Dining has made changes in hopes of providing better service to UR students.
“Our plan right now is to continue to get better at the things we are [currently] working on, and to really spend our time on food quality,” Director of Campus Dining and Auxiliary Operations Cameron Schauf said.
Here are some notable new developments.
Tapingo additions
“We’ve expanded Tapingo,” Schauf said. “You can now use Tapingo at California Rollin’ which is over in Simon.”
Limited time offers
“Limited time offers are in addition to whatever is on the menu at the time,” Schauf told the Campus Times.
UR Dining has brought new limited-time items to Wok on Up, Pizza Pi, Optikale, The Grill @ The Pit, and the salad bar.
At Optikale, new items include a southwest chicken salad and a green tea poached salmon noodle bowl.
Limited time offers at The Pit include a mel meatloaf coming off the grill, a cauliflower crust pizza from Pizza Pi, as well as a southwest chicken egg roll at the Wok station.
Beets will also be added periodically at the salad bar as a limited time offer.
Vegetarian and vegan options at late night
UR Dining is also making changes to the Douglass Late Night menu.
“We added two new vegan burger options to late night, so if someone wants to go to Late Night there’s two different vegan options,” Schauf said. “We’re trying to up our game for vegans and vegetarians at late night since a lot of what we were doing is more like wings and burgers.”
Chef takeover
In Danforth and Douglass dining halls, UR Dining will be doing something once a week called a “chef take over,” where a different campus chef will run a station each time, making one of their dishes.
“Today at lunch, our catering chef took over the grill side of the bistro and made crab cakes,” Schauf said.
As of last semester, UR Dining has a new pastry chef who will be actively participating in the chef takeovers.
“Yesterday, she took over part of the pizza station and did a fried apple custard breakfast pizza,” Schauf said.
For updates on chef takeover locations and times, Schauf directed students to UR Dining’s social media sites.
“[For] these kinds of things, we’re using a lot of social media,” Schauf said. “Following us on Instagram is the best way to find out [when] we’re doing this stuff.”
New produce suppliers
One of the bigger changes made to UR Dining is its change in meat suppliers. With changes to pork and beef providers, Dining Services hopes to improve its quality of food for students.
“A big movement for all of us is to make sure that your food is preservative free. In Danforth and Douglass we’re about 85 percent there,” Schauf said.
Schauf explained some reasons for switching over, including an interest in using humanely-raised animal products, the desire to support the local economy, and a push to have no preservatives in their food items.
“We have a new New York state partner for pork, and we’ve started using their pork and their sausage,” Schauf said.
Shauf says that Dining has also found a new provider for beef, one with better animal treatment practices. “We’re going to start using their products in March, with the goal of using them 100 percent by the fall, and roll them out into our retail operation as well,” he said.
Pop- ups
In addition to new events like chef takeover and limited time offers, something UR Dining is planning to continue “pop ups.” Pop ups — started last semester — are a combination of food giveaways, advertisements for healthier food options, and promotions for food that people may not normally try.
“When it was nice out, we did a pop up that had a quinoa salad in little cups,” Schauf said. “Our campus nutritionist that works for dining was manning the table so that she could talk to people about the health benefits.”
Plans for the future
In the future, UR Dining plans to further improve the student dining experience by reducing the Douglass Late Night waiting times.
