The days of the Chicken Cosmo are long gone.
Oh sure, you can still find a chicken sandwich at the Penn State dining halls. However, there is a much bigger variety of offerings today than there was a decade—or two—ago.
All types of meals are served from early morning to late night on campus. The quality is better, too. In short, this isn’t your father’s dining hall.
“Our dining halls offer a variety of menu choices and dining options,” says Jim Meinecke, director of residential dining at Penn State. “From all-you-care-to-eat buffets to deli sandwiches to made-to-order coffee drinks, we offer various options while delivering high-quality food and service.”
Meinecke has been a part of Penn State’s Housing and Food Services for sixteen years. During that time, he says, there have been a myriad of changes.
To explain more about today’s dining hall experience, Meinecke sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Town&Gown.
Professional Chefs
It’s often said that too many chefs can ruin the soup. At Penn State, the opposite is true. In fact, the more chefs, the merrier.
To improve the menus at dining halls across campus, Penn State Housing and Food Services made its team bigger and better.
“Things have changed drastically in three ways over the sixteen years I have been at Penn State Housing and Food Services. The first would be elevating our menus and menu items by onboarding a professional chef team,” Meinecke says.
There are a grand total of six managing chefs at the University Park campus.
“[The] managing chefs manage the culinary teams in our five dining commons. The first managing chef started ten years ago, and we have continued to grow this team at University Park and across the commonwealth,” Meinecke explains.
All told, Penn State has eleven managing chefs at its campuses, plus a corporate executive chef.
“The knowledge and experience the team brings to our operations are invaluable, and we are fortunate to have them,” Meinecke says.
Diversified Menus
Choices. Choices. Choices.
When it comes to picking a location on campus to eat, students have a lot of options. There are dining halls in all corners of campus. There’s the East Food District, which is in the East Halls residence area. Northside is in the North Halls residence area in Warnock Commons. Pollock Dining Commons is on the second floor of Pollock Commons. Along College Avenue, students can dine at the South Food District in the South Halls residence area. At West Halls, West Food District is the easy choice.
“We have five dining halls on campus and serve over 20,000 guests each day, depending on classes and events,” Meinecke says.
Each dining hall has a buffet, convenience store, and mixture of retail stations.
“Some have larger buffets with additional food options, like Pollock Commons and Waring Commons, and some have a larger retail station footprint, like Redifer Commons and Findlay Commons. Each of the five areas has options open from 7 a.m. to midnight daily,” Meinecke says.
Additionally, there’s HUB dining—which features twelve restaurants. There are also four Paneras on campus, which offer a variety of soups, salads, and sandwiches.
According to Meinecke, the diversified menu reflects the wants and needs of students.
“Our guests’ expectations continually change, and we try to match those expectations with menu planning and station creation,” Meinecke says.
When it comes to food choices, there are plenty of international options.
“We have added menu items from all over the world to our rotating buffet menu. This year we will open Choolaah, an Indian barbecue concept at Redifer Dining Commons. In October, we’ll open a new Halal Cart retail station at Warnock Dining Commons,” Meinecke says.
Over the past several years, numerous specialty food locations have opened.
“We have opened Market Pollock Asian Kitchen, serving authentic Asian rice, noodle bowls, and bubble tea. We also opened Pure, a kosher dining station free of the nine major food allergens. The Pure station has a separate kitchen for preparation and cooking, designated utensils, cookware, and equipment, and is supervised by a mashgiach for kosher compliance and food allergen safety,” Meinecke says.
For those students who want to keep an eye on their health, Penn State has a pair of on-site dieticians.
“Two talented registered dietitians work closely with our management teams to support guests with special dietary needs and food restrictions. We truly want our guests to feel comfortable dining with us,” Meinecke says.
Technical Support
The dining halls have changed with the times. According to Meinecke, a lot has happened recently.
“Technology has changed our business dramatically in the last five years. We introduced mobile
ordering in 2020, which has been a huge success,” Meinecke says.
Oh, and there’s also a robot. Yes, a robot.
“Last year we introduced a pizza robot [picnicworks.com] at Findlay Dining Commons, which has helped to increase our production capabilities while keeping pizzas consistent to help maintain our food costs,” Meinecke says.
And more is on the way.
“Over the next several years, we will continue to look at new and innovative technologies to supplement labor and assist in delivering a better guest experience,” Meinecke says.
There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to feeding students. Without employees, it doesn’t happen.
Meincke says that across the five dining halls, Penn State employs more than 300 full-time staff and nearly 1,000 students.
“That does not consider all the wonderful central support staff that helps make our day-to-day possible in the bakery, warehouse, purchasing, marketing, IT, human resources, and countless others. It is a very large operation with many talented folks helping make it successful each day,” Meinecke says.
The Staples
What do college students like to eat? Well, that’s something that hasn’t changed.
“Unsurprisingly, some of our most popular items include chicken tenders, fries, pizza, and whole subs,” Meinecke says.
But there are some trendy options that are a hit.
“Our students and guests enjoy various food from many of our areas. For example, Bowls, which features acai and overnight oat bowls, is one of our most popular stations. Fresco, a Mexican burrito and bowl station at Findlay Commons, is incredibly popular among our first-year students and all of our guests,” Meinecke says.
Comfort foods are also a big hit, according to Meinecke.
“Our buffets have some popular rotating dinners like roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, fajita night, and chicken parmesan that always do well,” Meinecke says.
College students often fuel themselves with caffeine. With that in mind, Penn State offers a variety of coffee drinks across campus.
“Our four Edge coffee shop locations feature ‘We Proudly Brew’ Starbucks coffee and drinks. Our guests love pairing these recognizable beverages with fresh Penn State Bakery items,” Meinecke says.
Special Order
In addition to the dining halls, there are a wide array of special pop-up meal events. Sundae bars and tailgate Saturdays are part of the fun. When students arrived for fall semester, they enjoyed a lamb kebab pop-up meal event as well as a feature for Hispanic Heritage Month.
Meinecke says the pop-up events have been a great success.
“These events provide opportunities for our culinary team to showcase their innovation. For events like our special dinners, these evenings completely transform our dining halls with a unique menu and décor but also allow us to work with many campus partners. These evenings are the most fun for our guests and our staff,” Meinecke says.
Additionally, there is a food truck, which circulates throughout campus. It has become an integral part of dining at Penn State.
“We also manage the Rolling Lion food truck. As construction nears completion for the last phase of East Hall’s renovation, the truck will have a new semi-permanent home between Curtin Hall and Martin Hall. To start the year, we will be open for each home football game and look to expand hours throughout the year,” Meinecke explains.
Passion for the Job
Meinecke says he considers himself lucky to have an interesting and fulfilling job. Every day is different, he says.
“This position affords me the opportunity to be involved in several different roles and projects daily. In a single day, I can be out at a unit connecting with students and staff, working on new menu items with our chefs, and finishing with a meeting about an upcoming special event with campus partners,” Meinecke says.
Because campus is constantly changing, Meinecke says the job has a level of built-in excitement.
“It is … an exciting time for dining and Penn State as a whole. We have some longer-term projects, like the all-athlete dining facility at Greenberg, that are unique and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to work on,” Meinecke says. “Being a part of our students’ daily lives while simultaneously working on projects to mold Penn State’s future is fun and exciting.” T&G
Chris Morelli is the managing editor of The Centre County Gazette.
