Toong was honored at a dinner presentation during the 2009 MenuDirections conference held in San Antonio. One of the 12 FSDs of the Month honored at the dinner, he was profiled in the December 2008 issue of FSD.
During Toong’s 11-year tenure at UMass, where he serves about 45,000 meals per day, he has re-engineered his dining halls to improve quality by having each dining hall specialize in a different cuisine, spearheaded a major renovation to the campus’ signature dining hall, attracted innovative and cost-effective retail brands by pursuing small business concepts rather than large national chains, encouraged variety by launching hundreds of special events and implemented sustainable business practices and healthy eating initiatives. As a result, his program earns about $55 million in revenue each year.
Accepting his award Toong said, “At UMass, we are always working on getting better and better. I am truly honored by this award and I welcome everyone to UMass who wants to see what we’re doing.”