#nacufs

A pair of Tri-State universities won prestigious NACUFS 2019 national awards. Stony Brook University of Long Island won a Sustainable and Operational award for their Outreach and Education program. The NACUFS Sustainability Awards annually recognize and honor member institutions that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the promotion and implementation of environmental sustainability, specifically as it relates to campus dining operations. The NACUFS Sustainability Awards support the globally accepted triple bottom line philosophy, a method of evaluating operational performance by measuring financial success as well as environmental sustainability and social responsibility—also known as “people, planet, profit.” Sixteen universities across North America submitted entries in this category. A team of four judges examined each entry carefully and selected top candidates.

The University of Connecticut was presented with a NACUFS nutrition award for Best Local Recipe. The NACUFS Nutrition Awards aim to help member institutions highlight successful wellness promotions and outstanding recipes. Twenty-one universities across North America submitted entries in this category. A team of four judges examined each entry carefully and selected top candidates.

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Hope College Dining Services’ excellence in offering international cuisine has won the NACUFS national grand prize in the Residential Dining Concepts category

University of Montana dining won a NACUFS Sustainability award for “Outreach and Education.

Led by Smitha Haneef, New Jersey’s Princeton University brought a large contingent to the annual event

Top national honors went to University of California/Irvine for sustainability.

Competing for one of these prestigious awards not only helps market the dining program as an award-winning program, it builds a sense of pride and team spirit within a dining staff. Sharing creativity and knowledge with other foodservice professionals is a key component to NACUFS membership.

NACUFS was founded in 1958 by a group of 19 college and university foodservice professionals from across the United States. Since its inception, NACUFS has focused on its mission to support and promote excellence in collegiate dining by providing members with the programs and resources they need to excel, from benchmarking and best practices to education programming and professional networking.

NACUFS membership is composed of institutions of higher education from across the United States, Canada, and abroad; and, industry members from the food and beverage; equipment and supplies; consulting and services; and technology market segments.

To learn more about NACUFS and the NACUFS 2019 Conference, visit their website.

In case you are wondering the connection, Touchwork’s main business focus is providing a platform and solutions in the CX (Customer Experience) space, something we’ve historically enjoyed great success in implementing in the USA university dining services sector. (Our biggest market by far).

Our USA office, led up by Johann Leitner and Carl Mostert, routinely hits the dining services conference circuit in order to cement existing relationships and turn up a few more opportunities in the university space, with Touchwork SA occasionally sending someone (i.e. me this time around) up for the experience.

Of course, this then meant finding a shirt and ironing it first (as a mostly work from home software developer, shirts aren’t something I actually own), before making my way to the Anaheim Convention Center in order to help set up our booth, grab a coffee, and then spend the rest of the day standing around and speaking to anyone who shows even the slightest glimmer of interest in what we have to offer.

Surprisingly, it went pretty well, and I pulled in some nice leads for the team, so come close of day I ended up being rather chuffed with myself (I’m not known for being a people person).

This went on for two days, the length of the showcase/exhibition part of the NACUFS IDEA ’16 conference (which itself ran for about four days).

It wasn’t all work though. The first evening we attended the NACUFS event party, catching the finals of the NACUFS Culinary Challenge, essentially a live Chef food preparation battle as what you would see on DSTV’s Food Network channel or something like that.

Asking the question, it turns out that dining services are in fact big business for American universities. A lot of prestige can be found in this function, hence the focus on profession chefs, and quite often this service is used as a class differentiation between institutions!

(Who knew that someone might actually pick a university based entirely on what food it has on offer!)

We also ended up bumping into one of our very good clients at that same party, and as such decided to leave the bustle behind and head out for a quiet supper with them instead – ending up at a particularly brilliant/upmarket steak place (Ruth’s Chris Steak House) where I ate what was probably the best steak of my life. (Mind you, the wine and conversation were just as good!)

On that note, the second evening after work wasn’t bad either – Carl and Johann decided that catching a baseball game was very much something that I as a first time USA visitor needed to do, a sentiment which I (who played baseball as a kid) most heartily agreed with!

Pictures of that particular outing a little later, I assure you.

So. NACUFS IDEA ’16 appears to have been a decent success, but more specifically for me, was a great opportunity to see how Touchwork utilizes and sells my software on that side of the world, the end result being me given a much clearer idea of what software development our US office needs going forward.

Still, given the amount of tourist things I did along the way sure makes it difficult to think of #USA2016 as a pure business trip! 😉

Related Link: NACUFS IDEA ’16 | NACUFS | Touchwork | #USA2016

One of the amazing benefits of working for Tufts Dining is the opportunity to attend industry conferences/think tanks/educational sessions. Engaging in dialogues about what is going on in food and in campus dining with colleagues and some food celebrities is a huge bonus. I came back energized and inspired!

HIGHLIGHT: getting to hear Stephanie Izard (@StephAndTheGoat), the winner of the fourth season of Top Chef, speak and getting to meet her! I completely fan-girled and am not embarrassed to admit that! She is an inspiration as a woman in the culinary arts industry and as a chef who makes the sustainable plate a priority. I wonder if I can find a way to get to Chicago to eat at one of her ‘Goat’ spots as research?!!!

I also saw a presentation by Chef Daniel Giusti (@TheDanielGiusti), who was head chef at NOMA, considered the best restaurant in the WORLD.  I even had an hour-long conversation with him afterwards.  He is now focusing his considerable talents on school lunch programs. All I can say is, if I leave here tomorrow, you’ll know where to find me! He is an inspiration!

And of course a food conference boasts lots of good food, gave me time to see and hang out with old friends- chefs, and meet new ones….including lots and lots of laughing which is my favorite thing. I am so lucky to be a part of a university that encourages growth and development and understands that the best way to continue being the best is to invest in education to help find what inspires us.

Oh, and my rescue cat Humphrey was VERY happy I was home finally!

Chef Joann, Chef Manager of Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center, enjoyed a variety of tasty adventures over the summer! Food is her favorite part of her time-off. Whether she's cooking and experimenting with new dishes or discovering local eateries, she’s all about food. Her first stop was Hyde Park, New York, her home town where she visited the Culinary Institute of America and ate at the student dining center called ‘The Egg’. As expected, amazing, innovative food all made by the students. If you are in Hyde Park, check out The Egg (shown below).    

Chef Joan discovered some gorgeous veggies, ate some beautiful food below, and was inspired to cook some new dishes with delicious twists here and there. Yum!

Chef Joann also attended the National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) conference where she was well-fed with peach salad (see below) and beautiful food while she got a chance to see what other universities and colleges are up to. (Tufts Dining also won the Silver Award for our Nutrition program and a Gold Award and Grand Prize for our online catering menu!)

A highlight of Chef Joann’s summer was when she got to meet Chef Jeff Henderson (see below) spoke at the conference and ended up sitting with Chef Joann for lunch. She squealed with excitement. She admires Chef Jeff Henderson who worked his way up from the bottom and continues to help those in need. (Click here for the full story about him.) His food inspires Chef Joann and thousands of others every day! 

Last week, I attended the national conference for the National Association of College and University Food Service (abbreviated NACUFS) in Baltimore, Maryland. 

The hotel was right next to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The theme of the conference was B’More Innovative. Education sessions included everything from sustainable practices to current food trends to nutrition marketing. Nancy Keller, the Director of ISU Dining, and I presented “B’More Safe with the Top 8” with an industry member. Many people were intrigued by our Special Diet Kitchen at Union DriveMarketplace. We were happy to share our best practices!

The conference was a great learning experience, and I met several other dietitians in college food service. Keep your eye out this school year for ideas we brought back from NACUFS!