2007 R&I Ivy Awards: Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine

Pick any hot-button issue in foodservice—local sourcing, fresh ingredients, global flavors, social responsibility or connecting with customers—and Bowdoin College almost certainly was an early adaptor.

By Derek Gale, Associate Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 5/1/2007

Enrollment: 1,713 Dining venues: 5 Retail operations: 3 Staff: 85 full time; 150 part time Student board-plan participation: 79% Meals served weekly: 22,000 Annual food budget: $2.2 million For 40 years, Bowdoin’s dining services has hosted a “Down East Lobster Bake” each fall for new and returning students. Thorne Hall, Bowdoin’s largest dining operation, offers many options, including a late-night snack meal.

By Derek Gale, Associate Editor

Pick any hot-button issue in foodservice—local sourcing, fresh ingredients, global flavors, social responsibility or connecting with customers—and Bowdoin College almost certainly was an early adaptor.

Food at Bowdoin (BOH-din) is freshly prepared and made from scratch, with emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. The college bakes its own bread and butchers meats. It grows vegetables and herbs in an organic garden and employs a professionally trained dining staff that goes out of its way to get to know students and provide personalized service. And the leaders of Bowdoin’s dining services work tirelessly to connect the program with student life and academics.

In turn, dining services is closely scrutinized, chronicled—and usually applauded—by at least one student: sophomore Mark McGranaghan appreciates Bowdoin’s food so much that he created a blog, The Bowdoin Gourmet (www.bowdoingourmet.com), to showcase the college’s dining experience. "Bowdoin’s great food makes my college experience much more enjoyable. It helps me feel happy and healthy, and I feel very lucky to be at Bowdoin in part because of it," McGranaghan says.

Students such as McGranaghan and others provide feedback that helps keep service standards high, says Dining Services Associate Director and Executive Chef Ken Cardone: "I think we have the ability to really listen to our customers. We ask them questions, and actively seek feedback. You’d be surprised what you get from suggestions. They’ll let you know what they want if you ask them enough."

More (and more-substantial) late-night snacks were among recent requests. So on a trial basis, Dining Services offered a reduced-hours late menu with options including cereal, bagels, cheese and crackers, vegetables and dip, and beverages.

"It was popular," says Mark Dickey, unit manager at Thorne Hall, the larger of Bowdoin’s two dining halls (Moulton Union is the other). "And as we got closer to the exam period, it would kick up. As time went on, it got bigger and bigger."

The "SuperSnack" offering is in its third year, available Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Late-night meal counts can be as high as 300, which Dickey says "sometimes are higher than breakfast now."

"Many years ago, when I got on campus, we were buying seafood from local fisherman. People talk about buying locally—that is something this institution has been doing for many, many years, because it’s the right thing to do. You get quality product, and it’s environmentally friendly," Cardone says.

The college’s organic garden supplies dining services with much of its produce, from tomatoes, onions, zucchini and radishes to leaf lettuce and peppery mustard greens. Now in its third year, the garden is being expanded to include a new plot of land close to Thorne Hall. "It is great to pull fresh produce out of the ground and walk into the dining hall," Dickey says. "It doesn’t get any fresher than that."

Town and Gown

The school even purchases certain products from local restaurants. "We just got samples of gelato from a cafe downtown," Cardone notes. "We would love to use it. We really have a good relationship with the folks in town."

Community outreach plays out in other ways. Local chefs are invited to visit and educate staff on recipes or equipment use, as well as to serve as guest chefs, preparing items requested by students.

Bowdoin’s recipes come from staff, students and parents, and menus change frequently. "You have to keep the program changing, before students get sick of seeing items," Cardone says. "You need to do it with seasons and change the way people eat."

One recent seasonal favorite was fresh Maine shrimp cakes (similar to crab cakes). Cardone says it took the cooks about six hours of labor menu it, "but the praises we got across the board were well worth the time."

Willingness to put in extra effort seems to define the staff. "Our cooks really know how to batch cook," says Dining Services Director Mary Lou Kennedy. "That’s what you want to do to keep foods fresh. Our staff is really good at making small amounts at a time."

Bowdoin’s dining services department includes about 85 full-time workers and 150 student employees. Turnover is low among full-time staffers, especially management. Dickey has been at Bowdoin 27 years; Cardone 18 years.

"This is important to us," Cardone says. "We hold this place in very high regard." Adds Dickey: "We’re very fortunate that Bowdoin College Dining Services is not a contract company. We are a part of this college."

In addition to longevity, the dining services staff also boasts solid professional training, Kennedy notes. "Lester Prue, one of our [longtime] managers, is a certified executive chef," she says. He has been certified to do safety training, and the college hopes soon to have 100% of dining-services employees safety certified, from pot washers to management.

Beyond ongoing safety training, dining services shuts down operations for two days each January for staff development. "We’ve done everything from taking the staff to Indian restaurants to touring a local facility that supplies our food," Kennedy says. "We bring in professors to talk about food and do fun things like cake decorating and ice sculpting."

The school supports this, as well as providing on-the-job training and classes for employees. "We do a lot in that area," Kennedy says, "which is helpful because managers can’t be there all the time."

In addition to two main board plan dining halls, Bowdoin offers three cash operations: a pub and grill, a c-store and a cafe. The two dining halls run completely different menus daily, and the dining services staff aims to offer plenty of options for all types of diets: vegetarian, vegan, organic and including gluten-free.

"There are a lot of ingredients out in our dining rooms," Cardone says. "You can create anything you want."