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The University of Connecticut’s Department of Dining Services Wins 2008 MenuMasters Award for Spa Foods

MenuMasters: Honoring Excellence and Innovation in Culinary Research and Development

The University of Connecticut’s Department of Dining Services’ new line of Spa Foods has been chosen as the winner of the 2008 MenuMasters Award in the category of Healthful Innovations.

UConn’s Dining Services is the first college/university foodservice to win the award in this category. MenuMasters Awards, presented by Nation’s Restaurant News and sponsored by Ventura Foods, honor excellence and innovation in culinary research and development. The awards are setting new standards of excellence and creativity, which significantly impact the foodservice industry.

UConn’s Dining Services Spa Foods were created to provide low calorie/low fat, and still delicious, food items to the university community. Inspired by the menus of some spas and health-oriented resorts, the university's culinary team worked together to create healthy, nutritional foods with flavorful combinations. Dennis Pierce, Director of Dining Services explains the conception of Spa Foods.

“[Spa Foods] began as a thought at my kitchen sink as I was washing dishes. So, we got our think tank together, which would consist of someone from marketing, a manager from culinary development, someone that handles our financial system for the pricing piece, and of course our dietician and someone from our production kitchen. And we sat around and said, ‘Okay, now how can we make this happen?’ We put our heads together and we came up with this concept called Spa Foods. The team went out and researched online for some recipes that were out there, they looked at some of the items Starbucks is now offering in their retail, and they came up with a list of items. Some of them had been successful, some of them had been dogs. Some of them were simple with a twist.”

Spa Foods are made with fresh ingredients and may include meat or fish, whole grains, beans or fruit. Every item is made daily, Monday through Friday, in the university's food production kitchen and are then delivered to six university coffee shop/cafes and two convenience stores where they are available to purchase.

MenuMasters Awards will be presented during ceremonies at the Drake Hotel in Chicago on May 17th, 2008. Dennis Pierce, Director of Dining Services, will be there to accept the award.

Other categories of MenuMasters Awards and winners include:

Best Menu/Line Extension - Red Lobster
Best Menu Revamp - Charley’s Restaurant, Nashville, Tennessee
Best Single Product Rollout - Maggiano’s Little Italy, Dallas, Texas
Best Limited-Time Offer - Burger King
Best Independent Operator Menu - Commander’s Palace, New Orleans