The Dining Hall Comes Of Age

Bon Appétit has forged many such partnerships with college farms and gardens on campuses they’ve served. In 2009, after realizing that their experience could be useful to others, they created the Student Garden Guide. The publication, produced with the help of chefs and student farmers, provided guidance for any campus garden or farm that desired to work with their food service provider. In 2011, a newly developed website (http://www.campusfarmers.org) made the wealth of farm and business information more easily accessible, while supporting a growing network of campus farmers.

Of course, there’s more to the operation than just farm-fresh produce. Healthy items are interspersed with comfort food. Chicken tenders are probably the most popular. The chefs once suggested changing the menu on Chicken Tender Tuesdays to lighter fare, but gave up the idea when students protested. (Those hundreds of chicken tenders are, incredibly, hand-breaded.) Potatoes are another favorite comfort food. By popular request, a baked potato bar was created. Diners can start with either a sweet potato or an Irish potato, and toppings run from the traditional (sour cream, chives) to the indulgent (marshmallows).

Becky Vuksta notes that the ice cream concoctions have become the menu item to watch. She’s often greeted with, “What’s the flavor today?” Angela Roberts is the person to thank for this trend. She used fresh mint from the Furman Farm to create a chocolate mint ice cream and fresh lemon juice and blueberries in another favorite. Today, the featured flavor is pumpkin pie (and yes, it’s every bit as good as it sounds).

Chef Derek Morgan (Daniel Dining Hall Manager) and Chef Chris Harris (Campus Executive Chef) also are committed to engaging the student body, which at Furman means working with a more progressive and fitness-conscious group than most. I ask a few students what they think about the new menus. One student shares that as a vegetarian, her choices used to be limited to fries and salad. Now, every day, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are available. The students also appreciate the focus on quality and the reasonable portion sizes. If a student asks for two helpings of a dish, the dining hall staff encourages him/ her to come back for a second helping only after finishing the first. That practice reduces both waste and waists.

The improvement in the food is only one element of the transformation. The chefs and manager often meet with prospective students and their parents to work with special dietary needs and allay any concerns. In fact, the entire staff is conscious of major allergens and focused on either identifying the ingredients clearly or eliminating them entirely. They also examine labels carefully and drill down to areas where allergens may be hidden—in cooking spray, for example. These practices are discussed each morning at the staff meeting, along with safety reminders and customer service topics. The atmosphere is professional but congenial; everyone is actively listening. And everyone is wearing purple gloves. When I mention the level of attention to detail in branding (Furman’s colors are purple and white), Michael Brownlee, Bon Appétit’s Resident District Manager, laughs—actually, the glove color is just a coincidence.

The chefs mention an upcoming meeting with Student Council. This isn’t a required meeting, but rather a time to sit down together to see what students need and want: what could Bon Appétit do to make them happier? The chefs’ openness and receptiveness to input—from students as well as their own staff—is refreshing.

Although Bon Appétit has been a part of the Furman family for less than six months, everyone has noticed the transformation and growth in the dining hall staff. They take pride in what they’re doing because they’ve been given creative freedom and positive feedback. If someone says, “Could we make . . .?” or “What would you think about changing this dish to include . . . ?” The answer is yes. That atmosphere creates a sense of ownership and pride.

The positive energy and innovation have resulted in more dining hall visitors, especially at breakfast and dinner. The presentation of the food, along with the use of seasonal fruits and vegetables, has drawn in more diners from OLLI and The Woodlands. Tables of students are interspersed with retirees, faculty, staff and community members. The increase in older diners interacting with the students is creating the kind of progressive and inclusive environment you’d find in a cohousing community.

I opt for the rosemary rice (lightly perfumed), the bleu cheese mashed potatoes (rich but subtle), and the kale (very lightly steamed). While I’m tempted to focus only on the delicious food before me, I’m reminded that Bon Appétit’s leadership and forward thinking has affected issues in our culture that are even more basic and profound. They were the first food service company to partner with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, featured in the film “Food Chains,” a movie focused on the human costs of food production and on the subhuman conditions in which many farmworkers live.

Bon Appétit also was a founding member of the Equitable Food Initiative, the purpose of which is to allow farm workers to have a “greater voice” and to promote environmental stewardship and safe food production. Their participation in the development of The Inventory of Farmworker Issues and Protections in the United States, published in 2011 on Cesar Chavez Day, was ground-breaking. That publication details the dirty secrets of the (industrial) farming world: low wages, deplorable working conditions, and lax enforcement of the few regulations that do exist. The most telling sentence is this: For the public, farmworker issues fall into a black hole that could be labeled “No data, no problem.” In other words, as a society, we have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude toward how our food is produced. But Bon Appétit asked — and told.

The theme of ecological stewardship seems fitting as we arrive at another Bon Appétit operation, this one at Milliken Headquarters in Spartanburg. The land on which the Milliken campus is located is a nationally-recognized arboretum, formerly a peach orchard. Bon Appétit has been the on-site restaurant here since October 2015 and serves about five hundred customers a day, through breakfast, lunch and on-site catering. They are in constant communication with Milliken, sending out surveys and determining what’s working and what employees would like to change.

The café is sleek and inviting. We immediately notice the signs advising diners to eat a rainbow of colorful plants, vary their protein routine, control portions. Other signs remind us that Bon Appétit-prepared animal proteins are antibiotic-free, that pork is purchased from farmers who do not use gestational crates, and that some entire meals are certified humane.

Manager Mariah Morrissey sources from some of the same farms used by the Furman staff, most notably Greenbrier and Gruber, but she also purchases Hickory Nut Gap meats, Belue Farms’ fig preserves, and Little River Roasting coffee; the latter two are located just minutes from Milliken.

Here, too, comfort food nestles next to healthier choices. Hamburgers made from certified humanely-raised beef are cooked to order. Wild-caught salmon is seared as you wait and placed over a bed of fresh greens. House-made pimento cheese and bacon are folded into wraps.

The salad bar at Milliken uses local lettuce whenever possible. In addition to the bar, employees can choose from four composed salads, which include fresh fruit and whole grain options. Vegan or vegetarian choices, as well as gluten-free options, are available every day. The marsala station offers a window into the wonderfully creative and flexible possibilities that come with a commitment to accommodating a diversity of needs. Employees can choose to have the marsala sauce served over noodles, chicken, tempeh or a combination.

Bon Appétit even offers vegan “butters” and vegan cookies. Keri Higgins, the pastry chef, bakes all the desserts and breads from scratch. Today, she’s created raspberry cream in chocolate cups, blueberry panna cotta, pumpkin panna cotta and chocolate peanut butter cake. All of these desserts would be at home in the display case of a high-end bakery.

Like at all Bon Appétit locations, the soups and stocks are made from scratch. Each day, a broth-based vegetarian option is offered. In addition to vegetable soup today, the café has prepared steak & wild rice soup. Uncertain about which you’d like to have for lunch? Sampling is encouraged.