KINGSTON – The University of Rhode Island’s Hope Commons dining center won the best large school multiple concepts/outlets category in a national college food services competition.
The dining center received the Loyal E. Horton Dining Gold Award from the National Association of College and University Food Services, a trade association serving more than 625 colleges and universities, according to the association’s Web site. URI beat out the University of Michigan, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and other large schools with its multiple food stations, entertainment events and Starbucks coffee.
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URI will now compete against small and medium-size schools for the overall national gold medal, the winner of which will be announced tomorrow.
The Hope Commons facility, completed in 2007, reflects a recent trend in college dining toward made-to-order food and increased student choice. The Mainfare dining hall inside Hope Commons, in contrast to many older dining halls, has multiple stations featuring hundreds of food choices.
“Instead of a lot of staff being in the back of house, everyone is now pushed forward, so a cook becomes a server. Staff members get to meet and greet the students. A special rapport is built,” said Steve Mello, interim director of URI’s Dining Services, according to a URI press release.
In addition to its main dining hall, the Hope Commons center includes retail establishments that sell brick oven pizza, ice cream and pastries, and a convenience store that the national association named “the Best in the Business” in spring 2008.
Additional news from the University of Rhode Island is available at www.uri.edu/news/.
