Fresh, Fast, Flavorful

Fresh, fast, and flavorful in noncommercial kitchens

By Laura Yee, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 9/15/2003

To welcome incoming students and reassure parents about the well-being of their freshman children, Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., opens campus dining to families during orientation sessions.

Director of Dining Services Patricia Bando looks at the extended gatherings as a market-research opportunity, a chance to learn firsthand about students’ dining habits. She embarks on a seemingly endless round of table-hopping, part social call and part focus group, conducting one-on-ones with her new customers. Input from the most recent gathering surprised even Bando, a 28-year foodservice veteran. Nearly every table inquired about the availability of vegetarian options and healthful fare, information she will quickly turn into menu choices.

“[Eating more healthfully] needs to be taken seriously because it is a growing trend,” she says. “I don’t believe it is strictly religious or ethnic but a return to a healthier lifestyle.”

If past eras allowed noncommercial kitchens to be somewhat complacent in their efforts, banking on captive audiences and often on the promise of subsidies as well, today’s marketplace differs substantially. To succeed, noncommercial foodservice must develop a keener understanding of its role across varied markets, one closely aligned with menu offerings customers say will keep them from purchasing meals off site.

Thrust into a competitive mode, foodservice directors have responded with great vigor, generating trend-forward fare that is every bit as interesting as that offered by nearby commercial operations. Asian, Mexican, Caribbean and Mediterranean grilled fare, as well as organic and meatless foods are routine on many noncommercial menus. As consumer focus continues to shift, operators find that other elements are equally important to guests. Fresh, high-quality ingredients, obvious points of differentiation, and made-just-for-you elements also are vital to success. Bottom line: To win, noncommercial foodservice has to be interesting, tasty and suited to the lifestyles of its client base.

Four years ago, Bando attempted to accommodate the increasing number of nonmeat-eating students by offering a vegetarian station for her 11,000-plus diners. It didn’t fly.

“They didn’t want to be seen making that kind of choice,” Bando says. “We have since incorporated vegetarian options into all stations. But knowing that so many students are asking about vegetarian says we need to look into what else we can do.” Nonmeat options represent about 18% of meals served.

Bando and other operators say burgeoning interest in vegetarian dining shouldn’t be interpreted as a widespread switch from steak to tofu. It more likely means that healthful options must be woven into menus, ready to sate students’ sometimes-contradictory dining habits, she explains. “If everyone ate healthfully, we wouldn’t have the ‘freshman 15,’” she says, referring to the weight gain that often sneaks up on first-year students.

NATURAL CHIC
Understanding that menu semantics can affect popularity, labels such as “healthy” and “diet food” are giving way to more-popular terms such as “organic,” “wholesome” and “natural,” says Lauren Bell, chief executive officer of Mill Valley, Calif.-based Wild Sage Foods. Bell has partnered with Sodexho USA to open fast-casual restaurants on college campuses, in business-and-industry locations and at other noncommercial venues. The first opened earlier this year at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Gaithersburg, Md.-based Sodexho USA expects to have at least 12 locations in the next three years.

The as-yet-unnamed concept gives everyday favorite foods—from burgers and wraps to sandwiches, salads and soups—a healthful guise and a creative edge that borrows inspiration from the global pantry. About 80% of the menu is organic and Bell hopes the restaurants will one day be certified USDA Organic.

The operation also menus french fries made from organic gold potatoes and served with ancho-chile sauce, and sweet potatoes, also organic, with maple dunking sauce. Thai One On is a wrap of grilled seasonal vegetables with sesame-peanut sauce, rice noodles, mango chutney, tahini-hummus spread, baba ghanoush, toasted coconut and salsa. Global Fusion Salad serves seasonal vegetables on Israeli couscous, French lentils and roasted peppers. There’s even an eggless salad sandwich of tofu with finely chopped vegetables.

“Kids today are very educated about what they eat,” says Bell. “They know the impact foods have on health and know that nutritious meals are better for the body.”

JUST FOR YOU
Ask Eric Rappaport, director of development for retail brands at Sodexho USA, to choose a favorite company restaurant and his enthusiasm for Pandinis is obvious.

The concept is built around pasta, pizza, sandwiches and roasted specialties prepared in a large, custom brick oven. Promoted as Old World style meets New World flavor, the menu includes shrimp scampi, shrimp pizza and flank-steak focaccia with vegetables and caramelized onions. Pandinis also features labrettis, a blend of sandwich, salad and pizza that places ingredients such as ham and cheese, grilled chicken or Italian cold cuts on pizza dough that is baked, topped with greens and then folded to form a sandwich.

“Our benchmark was California Pizza Kitchen. We want to bring those flavors and variety to campus,” Rappaport says, naming menu items such as barbecue-chicken pizza and a variety of pasta dishes including fettuccine and garlic-herb Alfredo with roasted vegetables.

Pandinis’ 510F multideck oven, which allows customers to watch food roasting or baking, can cook more than 200 10-inch pizzas in an hour. “The pizza takes 8 to 10 minutes to cook but you get it within a couple minutes because we know from figures what sells,” he explains. “So you get something custom-made that’s fresh, fast and high-quality.”

Six Pandinis are planned for college campuses, including a fall launch at Arizona State University in Tempe. Rappaport also views the concept as an option for B&I and other contract foodservice settings.

“It has all the elements that make dining exciting—a lot of flavor, fresh ingredients and that made-for-you component,” he says.

At Boston College, customization also is a priority. Dining services this fall rolled out Blazing Bowls—cool greens (romaine, mesclun mix and other lettuces) with hot toppings such as chicken, pork or beef prepared in ethnic or regional styles.

“Expectations are higher,” Bando says. “You can eat a hamburger everyday, but in addition we offer prime rib, fresh fish, shrimp and scallops, plus Asian stir-fries and pastas tossed to order. Seeing food made in front of them is a very important part of conveying quality to our customers.”

FLAVOR HIGHS
Fresh and flavorful menu items, often by way of herbs, spices and chiles, continue to exert sway in noncommercial kitchens, much as they do in commercial segments. Reduced-fat selections also garner increased space on noncommercial menus.

Philadelphia-based Aramark earlier this year rolled out a sandwich line that includes options with less than 10 grams of fat. To compensate for flavor sometimes sacrificed to lower fat, the culinary team looked to increased spices, condiments and ingredients. Grilled chicken is served on a sourdough roll with vegetables and sweet chile sauce. Turkey is piled on a multigrain roll and complemented with sweet chipotle barbecue sauce and shaved red onions.

At the University of Houston, foodservice provider Chartwells (a division of Raleigh, N.C.-based Compass Group North America) developed a Mexican/Cajun wrap concept called Habaneros that has become so successful that plans are in the works to duplicate it at other accounts.

Much of Habaneros’ menu focuses on fish wraps, though chicken also is a choice. A favorite folds fried catfish in a plain, spinach or jalapeño-Cheddar tortilla with black beans, dirty rice, shredded lettuce and a house sauce of mayonnaise mixed with pickle relish, cilantro, jalapeños and garlic.

“No concept had ever been successful in that corner [of the dining facility],” says Joann Merritt, dining services manager. “Now, next to the hot line, Habaneros is the most popular. Students always want something new and this fits what they want.”

QUALITY RULES
No matter the concept, operators say their most popular and promising programs focus on quality ingredients and increasingly on seasonal menus.

Jason Brown, chef at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, says high-quality offerings keep throngs of visitors in the museum restaurant instead of venturing to the many nearby dining choices.

“We use all fresh products and put a lot of thought into the menu,” says Brown, whose operation is run by New York City-based Restaurant Associates (a division of Compass Group North America). “We also keep it as seasonal as possible—that’s what [commercial] restaurants do and that’s how we can be competitive.”

In the cafeteria, tossed-to-order salads include a choice of 27 items, such as grilled salmon, poached shrimp, baby greens, haricots verts and teardrop tomatoes. A do-it-yourself antipasto bar features such items as sautéed broccoli rabe with roasted garlic; prosciutto; and fresh mozzarella.

The menu at the museum’s Petrie Court Café could be from any tony New York bistro. Selections include grilled asparagus with lolla rossa lettuce, golden beets and sheep’s milk feta; Tuscan grilled vegetables with goat cheese and pesto on focaccia; and French ham and Brie cheese, honey Dijon and arugula on walnut-raisin bread.

BANK ON IT
With a menu that changes with the seasons, foodservice at Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp. also mirrors that of a fine-dining restaurant. Self-operated foodservice at the investment bank handles the corporate dining room and special events. Chef Grant Gillen, who has worked in France, New York City and other parts of the world, says the clientele gravitates to simple, high-quality choices.

“The customers here aren’t concerned about where something came from nor do they want to know every single ingredient in the dish,” he says. “But I make sure ingredients are top-notch. The food is seasonal and I go to the farmers markets a couple times a week. We also make sure we find a use for everything we bring in so there’s no waste.”

While bank executives and their clients may not be concerned about menu techniques and ingredients, they do know what they like. Favorite dishes typically are seafood-oriented, including Pacific jumbo sea scallops seared with herbed tomato butter and served with mashed potatoes and tempura vegetables. Also popular is Gillen’s version of stuffed chicken breast: Chicken is pounded thin, layered with manchego cheese mixed with zucchini, fennel, mushrooms and duck confit, wrapped in phyllo dough and baked.

“Our goal is like any operator’s: to make the best food possible with respect to quality ingredients and solid techniques,” Gillen says.

Habaneros’ Catfish Wrap
Chartwells/University of Houston Dining Services

Yield: 24 servings

Spicy House Sauce (recipe follows)	3 cups
Jalapeño-Cheddar tortillas, 12-in.	24
Prepared Cajun rice	4 lbs.
Prepared seasoned black beans	2 lbs.
Lettuce, shredded	1 lb.
Tomatoes, thinly sliced	6 lb.
Fried breaded catfish strips	4½ lbs.

To prepare single serving, spread 2 Tbsp. house sauce on tortilla. On lower third of tortilla, place 1/2 cup rice, 1/4 cup beans, 1/3 cup lettuce and 3 tomato slices. Top tomato with 3 fried catfish strips and roll up burrito-style.

Spicy House Sauce

Combine 1 qt. mayonnaise with ½ cup each minced jalapeños, chopped cilantro and sweet pickle relish, and 11/2 tsp. garlic powder.