For our May 2013 issue, FoodService Director celebrates the winners of the third annual Goldies Awards. The Goldies, a collaboration between FSD and The Culinary Institute of America, are designed to celebrate the gold standard of best practices in non-commercial foodservice.
Entrants typically submit information about programs they’ve developed to satisfy some aspect of their department’s mission. Sustainability/environmental awareness, health and wellness, menu development, guest services and financial wizardry are examples of the types of programs entrants have submitted.
Entrants are judged with others in their market segment only. This year, four segments were honored: colleges and universities, hospitals, K-12 schools and senior living. This year’s winners were honored at our MenuDirections conference in March. For the first time, a Grand Goldie was awarded to one of the four honorees. The Grand Goldie was bestowed upon the operation that best encompassed the gold standard in non-commercial foodservice. Check out the links below for full profiles of the winners, as well as links to their winning videos and Snapshots of photos.
C&U Winner: North Carolina State University, Raleigh
Grand Goldie Program Highlights
NC State University’s My Roots are at NC State program represents the gold standard for non-commercial foodservice because:
• In an effort to engage students in the department’s sustainability efforts, dining services partnered with the state program Got to Be North Carolina to track down local businesses that have an NC State connection
• Dining services then made a list of all the local companies it was already purchasing from and looked for areas where it could switch to a local company
• Students became more engaged in the department’s efforts such as local purchasing and composting when they saw that people in those businesses had connections to NC State
• The department promoted the stories of the companies that had NC State connections on its website and posters, in order to engage students with the producers and companies
• The program also is featured in the department’s All Carolinas Meal and Earth Day celebrations by inviting the business owners to interact with the students
Full article
Winning Video
Snapshots
K-12 Winner: Flik Independent School Dining, Rye Brook, N.Y.
Program Highlights
Flik Independent School Dining’s Traveling Flavors program represents the gold standard in non-commercial foodservice because:
• It brings international and regional flavors to more than 100 of Flik’s accounts twice a year
• On Traveling Flavors day, Flik’s regional chefs prepare a special menu of authentic foods. The menu is based either on food from one country or around a theme, such as street foods or recipes from a celebrity chef
• To further educate students, the Traveling Flavors station features decorations, games and music that complement the theme
Full article
Winning Video
Snapshots
Senior Dining Winner: Lanier Village Estates, Gainesville, Ga.
Program Highlights
Lanier Village Estates’ Slumped Bottles program represents the gold standard for non-commercial foodservice because:
• It is a collaborative effort between staff and residents
• It has heightened the image of the dining program, created excitement on the part of residents and drawn more business
• It is an innovative way to protect the environment through recycling, while also saving costs on the purchase of servingware such as cheese and salad plates.
Full article
Winning Video
Snapshots
Hospital Winner: UNC Health Care, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Program Highlights
UNC Health Care’s Restaurant Delivery program represents the gold standard for non-commercial foodservice because:
• It increases patient satisfaction by offering patients more variety and dining convenience than with even a standard room service program
• It maximizes labor efficiency by using staff who already were preparing meals for the retail operation, rather than adding staff dedicated solely to patient food
• That cross-utilization of kitchen staff has led to a 6% decrease in labor costs
• Sous vide technology has been applied to a number of the items being prepared, resulting in improved food safety, product yield and quality, while also reducing the time from order to plating by as much as 10 minutes