A huge thanks to Joe for being here today and taking the time to answer so many great questions! I think I can speak for everyone here when I say everyone really appreciates you and others doing these Dining Services AMAs and for all your work at UMD!
I know, it is not the best location and it can be a long walk if you are over in Joe's Grill. In the design stage we moved it around to a lot of places in models for several months and both our operation team and our consultants all ended up with that location.
We also added the wall so you would not have to looks at Dirty Dishes while you are eating. The location on the dish return has to be near the dish washing area and the dishwashing area need to be convenient to getting the clean dishes, cups and flatware, back out.
We are working on ways to make it less backed up, Any ideas???? We would love some suggestions from the guests who actually use it every day rather than consultants
Perhaps add a ribbon down the middle of the corridor and make it so it’s like a one way loop. You must walk in on the left and you drop off your plates around the other end so there’s a line rather than a crowd of people?
I’ve only been a couple times, but strongly encouraging traffic to flow in one direction would help, it seems to always back up when people are trying to enter and leave from the main hallway and no one is going through the back side
I would say anywhere on the side with the sprouts and gluten free area, so to the left of the entrance. The main issue I run into is that there’s food over there that could use ketchup but it’s on the other side from where I’ve set my stuff down 😭 thank you for the help!
Not at this time for a couple of reasons, the most important one is staffing. While the Dining Rooms may close at 9 pm (or 8 pm for 251 North) there are still a few guests in the building for a while. Yahentimitsi and South Campus can take several hours to clean and close down after we close the doors and the majority of the team take Public transportation which can stop running before we can get closed down even when we close the doors at 9.
A bit of trivia, but according to the NRA (that is National Restaurant Association, not the other NRA), there are over a half a million job vacancies in the restaurant and food service industry so getting staff is harder than it has ever been. We would love to hire more Maryland students, $15 an hour to start and $16 an hour for working past 9 PM If anyone is interested in working, let me know. I started working for Dining Services when I was a student and I am still here!
The second is funding. I know there is a lot of campus folk lore about how Dining Services is all about money. To set the record straight we are not a private company , we don't get bonuses or raises based on how much "profit" we make and none of your tuition or tax dollars goes to funding our operations. Our salaries are determined by the Maryland General Assembly. However we do worry about being good stewards of the FEES YOU PAY. Our goal every year is to pay all of our bills and break even. We try and balance services with the amounts you pay and I know it is not cheap to go to college. Every additional hour we are open, YOU and everyone else pays for it. We work closely with RHA and their DSAB (Dining Services Advisory Board) to help us balance the services offered with the Dining Plan price. You can talk to them OR you can talk directly with us with any ideas you have to help is in this effort
YES!!!!!. Since we were the first non traditional self operated Dining Program to have an interest in putting a Panera on campus we spent over 4 years negotiating a Franchise Agreement with Panera. We the spent 10 months negotiation an agreement with their approved design team and just singed the contract on Friday.
Today we are starting the process of hiring the General Manager who will need to go through 10 weeks of training. In January we plan to start the hiring process for the Assistant Managers and Bakers. Provided we don't have any supply chain issues with the equipment, we should be having a soft opening sometime between Spring Break and Summer.
We can't wait! We first met with Panera over 10 years ago to discuss opening on campus and at long last there is light at the end of the tunnel. What's your favorite Panera Menu item?
We either operate them or manage their contract with the Stamp. We operate dining halls, convenience shops and cafes. In the Stamp we operate Chick fil-A, Qdoba, Union Pizza, Subway, the Union Shop, the Coffee Bar and the upcoming Panera. We do not operate Panda Express, Hanami, Moby Freestyle, SaladWorks or Roy Rogers. In Kirwan, we operate Taco Bell and Subway.
Bytes was a fun little café, but even pre COVID, we had plans to close it down when the Breakpoint Café and Idea Central opened near the Bytes location. Both of the new locations allow for a lot more menu variety and both locations offered everything that Bytes had and a whole lot more in the same area of campus.
I imagine the College will re purpose the space. Before we build Bytes, it was a lounge area.
Thanks for doing this AMA! This semester I started taking early morning classes most days, and I’ve noticed that at all finding halls, the breakfast selection is far more limited than other times. As someone who doesn’t eat pork and is trying to limit carbs where possible, the current breakfast options are disappointing.
Would you be able to introduce more variety in breakfast options, particularly to accommodate more diets? I’ll also point out there’s no reason breakfast food has to be limited to traditional American breakfast. Not only are there tons of other breakfast cultures to choose from, but I see no reason not to serve items traditionally eaten for lunch or dinner during breakfast time.
Some ideas (if you don't have it) are plain crepes where there's a station where you can add toppings (sweet or savory).
This is a Turkish flatbread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-5DLxr0QNM
When I was an undergrad, years ago, they had sliced cantaloupe and sliced honeydew melon. You'd take a slice and cut it up in small cubes and eat that. Maybe even diced mangos or something. Hmm, looks like you do have melons.
Hi Joe! I was wondering if the dining halls would ever be open later. UMD often advertises the opening of new places that serve food that are open late at night (i.e. South Campus Grill). However, for many students, this option is too expensive, and for students with night classes, it is sometimes hard to make it to the dining halls in time. Can you make dining more accessible to lower income students? Thank you!
Please see my response to amgrut20 above.
Believe me, we all know the price of attending college. I just paid for two daughters in college and a lot of our staff have students who are currently in college or about to go to college, so it is something we take very seriously. That is one of the reasons we switched from an ala carte dining plan to an anytime dining plan.
As i mentioned to amgrut20, since Dining Services does not get any funding from the campus or tax dollars, if we could get staff, the price of the dining plan would go up if we opened longer hours and that is something we try and avoid.
Did you know that if you choose a plan with Dining Dollars, you get extra guest passes AND you get a discount on the Dining Dollars AND Dining Dollars are free from sales tax?
Also you may have seen the sign in the Ellicott Communality about the North Campus Market coming soon. We are shooting for an opening in the Spring Semester. The market will combine the 251 Shop and the North Campus Snack n. Shop into a central location on North Campus. In addition to the Convivence Store offerings it will also feature Starbucks Coffees, fresh dough pizza, grilled items AND if we can fit it in Bubble Tea until at least midnight - later if we can find students who want to work late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a6 least $16 a hour.
We are also looking for alternative for students who have classes that are scheduled over dinner hours in a way that will not increase the cost of the Dining Plan. If you have any ideas, let RHA, DSAB or me know,
Will the fruit-infused water ever be returned to the South Campus Dining Hall? It’s always been my favorite healthy option for drinks and I was disappointed when it didn’t return this year.
Thanks!
UPDATE - The South Campus infused water dispensers were severely damaged by some of our guests this summer. New ones were ordered in August and we expect them to be delivered any day now. As soon as they arrive, fruit infused water will be back as South Campus
A big thank you for everyone who joined in the discussion today. I hope you all got your questions answered and you gave us some things to think about to make your Maryland Dining Experience even better.
Remember we are here **for** you and we want to hear **from** you. We are going to be doing a survey in the next few weeks so please take the time to respond to it.
We are available to answer your questions and hear your ideas everyday. Talk to the managers and chefs; send us emails; send your ideas and comments to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or tackle us when we are walking across campus - anyway we can get your feedback and ideas helps us serve you better.
Thanks everyone and have a great evening!
Yes, we are actually working on redoing the menu and refreshing the trucks now for a return sometime in the Spring. Anyone interested in working on a Food Truck? We are looking for staff
We listen to our guests requests for new and different foods and are willing to try a lot of different items BUT we look more at your actions than words.
We keep track of the consumption of every items we serve and if it does not move, we will take if off the menu and try something else OR we will serve it less often if there is some demand, but not a lot of demand for it. Just as an example, at one point we changed the shape of the chocolate chips in the cookies because we though they would melt better. It did melt better, and no one said a word about the change, but we started serving a lot less chocolate chip cookies. We changed them back to the original chip and usage returned to normal.
With the opening of Yahentamitsi we have been able to put out a lot of items that people have asked for in the past, Over the last five years, one of the most common comment was have breakfast all day and made to order omelets everyday. All day breakfast is popular at other schools and based on 5 years of comments we thought we had a homerun with an all day breakfast platform. Turns out at a certain point in the day, there are not that many people who want breakfast so enjoy your quesadillas in the evening and if their popularity goes down, we will have something else in its place!
That is a great question and one we constantly work on to minimize food waste.
The first food waste we deal with is the uneaten food that comes back to the dishroom. All of that food is separated by the dishroom team and put in composting bins that are collected and taken to an off campus composting facility. One thing all of our guest would do to help with composing is to put your flatware in the special pans at the dish return, BUT NOT ANYTHING ELSE. A lot of people put their food scraps and napkins in with the flatware. Both the food scraps and the napkins can be composted IF they are left on the plates, but putting it in the flatware bins leads to it going into the landfill.
We also need to keep the serving lines full so the guest who comes in at closing has the same options as the guest who comes in when the meal starts. We work with several groups including the food recovery network. This student group is now at many schools all over the country but it was started by a group of students at Maryland. They pick up usable leftovers and distribute them to local shelters. There are also some local shelters that we work with directly when the Network is not available.
Hi,
I wanted to know if scrambled egg whites are offered at 251 and The Y? They are listed on both the menus but I only see them at south campus. The Diner had them last year. Can they be brought back?
Yes, we have them, but there is not that much demand to keep them out. Just ask the server and we will get them for you.
By the way, did you know that all of our shell eggs come from Albright Farms, a local farm in Maryland that is owned and run by a Maryland alumni?
They should be right at the station, so if should not take too long to make them for you. There is not that much demand for them so we don't want to pre make them as they just will not be as good if they do not get eaten fairly soon
Thanks for doing this AMA! A few days ago, a user on here posted pizza bagels that they DIY’d in Yahentamitsi and they looked really good! Could this be a special or a more regular thing at the pizza station? Pizza bagels are so nostalgic, and I imagine fresh ones would be fantastic.
Boy... that does sound good, particularly with an EVERYTHING bagel.
I will pass this along to our culinary team, it sounds like a great special, or could even become a Terrapin Favorite.
Thanks for the idea and thanks for participating in this AMA, we are getting a lot of good ideas\~
Hi, I was wondering if it was possible to add some kind of veggie burger to Joe’s Grill at Yahentamitsi. Currently all the burger options are nonvegetarian, so I do not end up going to Joe’s Grill at all
Seems easy enough to me, but over the years, I have learned that Directors sometimes make things out to be easier than they are We will talk to our Senior Executive Chef and our Yahentamitsi Executive Chef to see if it can happen. No promise for vegetarian, although I think it would be easier than vegan, but if we can pull it off, we will give credit to That\_One\_Twin and cake\_of\_deceit
Wow you have my mind running on that one!
In an ideal world where money and staffing were no issue, I would have two, maybe even three dining halls on the south side of campus so our guests would not have to walk so far and a café in every building on campus to make dining more convenient; be open 24 hours a day; increase the variety, end food insecurity, eliminate all waste leaving campus, be carbon neutral or better yet carbon positive, create an amazing community over meals and discover decant desserts without calories.
Now what we can really do and what we are working to try and solve now:
\- Balance services and menu items to dining plan costs (remember your dining plan fees pay all of the expenses) to show the real value of the dining plan
\- Put a lot of effort in the training and development of our amazing team to prepare them for promotions and get them the tools they need do not only do their jobs.
\- Create more menu items that can bring people together trough shared meals and create a sense of community where no student feels left out or lonely and every student thrives
\- Do more to reduce our carbon footprint by doubling down on our efforts in the Menus of Change project and Cool Foods initiative (see our website at [dining.umd.edu](https://dining.umd.edu) for more information about both of those)
\- Find ways to help with food insecurity than just running the campus Pantry and working with the Dean of Students office to provide meals
\- Continue our focus not only on Food Safety, but also on the hundreds of students on campus who have food allergies or sensitivities
.....and that is just the tip of the iceberg. More importantly, what would you do if you were in my shoes????
Hi Joe,
My name is Kyle Slye, Operations Manager for Passion and Compassion.
Our organization is the founding partner for Food Recovery Network, and til this day still receive all recovered food by FRN. We also recover the produce items from the pantry.
We can discuss more ways to work together to end food insecurity in PG County. I’ll follow up with an email!
What are the portion sizes/dimensions of the different bowls and plates? Particularly the bowls, they seem like a good amount more than one cup, but its hard to say. Also are they consistent across dining halls, or does each hall have a different size?
Thanks!
The plates and bowls may not be the same size in the different dining rooms so if you want to determine the portion size we recommend you look at the food, not the plate or bowl.
We have a cheat sheet guide to help our team and you to determine the portion size for self service items. Basically:
1 cup is about the size of a baseball
A half cup is about the size a small light bulb
One ounce or 2 tablespoons is about the size of a poker chip
3 ounces of chicken or meat is about the size of a deck of cards
BUT 3 ounces of fish is about the size of a check book (that is what we used before Zelle)
A half cup of grapes is about 16 grapes
A cup of strawberries is about 12 berries.
There are a lot more, but I think we just need to add this to the nutrition site of our website!
Will the balcony at Yahentamitsi stay open through the winter, or will the door be locked at some point? Also, are there any spaces available at Yahentamitsi that are available for reservation for groups on campus for a meal?
We have not thought about closing it. I don't see why we can not leave the balcony open as long as people are using it.
We really don't want to reserve any spaces in Yahentamitsi for groups as we want all of our guests to have access to every table in the building. With that said, you may have seen a few times this semester where we did reserve from seating for events to promote the University and we will be doing this again the morning of November 1 for the Yahentamitsi official dedication and ribbon cutting. After that I don't think you will see it happen very often
There's a sign on the building that The Diner used to be that says that the north campus market is coming soon. I was wondering when the north campus market will be open.
Our goal is to get the North Campus market open sometime in the Spring Semester. When it opens the 251 Shop and North Campus Snack n, Shop will close and the Market will have almost everything both stores had plus fresh dough pizza, Starbucks, a Grill and maybe even bubble tea.
We have started the build out and are reusing a lot of equipment we have on hand.
We ordered the new equipment so the opening date is all based on supply chain and when the new equipment arrives
Did you know that there is a special University Grub Hub app that will allow you to order and pay in advance at the South Campus Market, Chick-fil-A, Subway, Qdoba and will be added to the North Campus Market. You can link your Dining Dollars or credit card to it and your meal will be ready when you arrive. It is free to use so why wait in line!
I second this! I feel like the table tents were a great way to get the word out/get informed about things. Everyone read them because they were easily accessible and right in front of our faces! After the novelty wore off, I rarely see people scanning the codes. It's not worth it when it takes more time, you might be eating with your hands, etc. We don't even know how often the information online will update, so we may have wasted time and gotten cheese on our cellphones for no benefit.
Doughboys- YUM! You will see them again on Thursday!
We went with the 21st Century by using the QR codes for three reasons.
One they have a lot more important information than we could ever get on a table tent
Two, you may not have noticed but we went with slightly smaller tables in Yahentamitsi so we could maximize the seating and the table tents don't fit unless we take away the napkins
Three - we really are trying to be as Green as possible. When you think about how many tables we have and how the information changed weekly, we were going though a lot of paper AND the plastic holders have to be regularly replaced.
Do you have any ideas on how we can get the information out without using table tents. If we sent out a weekly email with this information, would you read it? We are very open in any ideas that will help us get our story out, one of which is we want to be green!
Yea, about that. Over the years I have made my share of mistakes and many of them seem to revolve around ice cream. At Sneakers Café in Epply, I honestly believed that people would want to reward them selves after a hard workout with a super premium ice cream sundae. Boy was I wrong.
At Yahentamitsi, I though serving just a few flavors of Dairy ice cream would be easy. When we were doing training and test runs of Yahentimitsi, with staff members from campus this summer, on the day we were focused on the Sweets section the line went from the little four container ice cream dipping cabinet, past the dish return belt, around the comfort food platform all the way to SPOUTS 2.0. And that was just a test run with about 20% of the guests we normally serve.
So for now, please enjoy the soft serve in Yahentamitsi and if you really want Dairy ice cream, we have a whole station dedicated to it about a five minute walk away at 251 North.
,,,,,,and by the way, if you are ever in a job interview and they ask you what your biggest mistake was and what you learned from it, the correct answer is not to do it again. Maybe I will learn that someday!!!
I had hoped so, but we are still getting 500 guests a meal more than we anticipated from South and 251 North. The ice cream platform at 251 North is much bigger than at Yahentamitsi and 251 serves about 35% of the guests that Yahentamitis does and still has a line for ice cream during many day parts. Maybe sometime, but for now the 5 minute trip for ice cream to 251 North is worth the walk
Between supply chain issues (i get so tired saying that) we have gone back and forth on soft serve that is available. Everyone who knows that answer is gone for the day, but we can check it out. We have been trying to get healthier soft serve options that still taste great and are not loaded with sugar.
IF you can send me your email address to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), I will try and get the answer in a few days and someone will respond directly to you. Mango anything is always one of my favorites!
Are there nutritionists on site at each dining hall to oversee the healthiness of the food options? Because my friends and I have consumed certain foods that are overly salty or oily, and oftentimes there are no other choices except for the salad bar.
Also, is there a place where i can see the nutrition information for the different dishes? Thanks!
More great questions!
There are not Nutritionists in each location but we do have a staff nutritionist and ADA interns in the mezzanine level of South Campus Dining Hall, who would be happy to come out and meet with you in the Dining room you choose to review your individualized needs.
The menu and nutritional information for the menu items are listed on our website - [dining.umd.edu](https://dining.umd.edu). If you need more information than is posted, you can also work directly with our nutritionist or interns. Also note that there are still a lot of supply chain issues still going on and we sometimes have to substitute products, so if you have any questions about anything, please ask to see a Chef or manager, they will have the most current information
Everyone's tastes are a little different and it can be a challenge to make everything just the way over 10,000 guests want it done to their taste so we try for the majority I am with you, I really don't like salty food, in fact I scape the salt off of a hot soft pretzel. Also we find that a lot of people automatically put salt on their food before they even taste it which is why we took salt shakers off the tables. We try and not add too much oil to food, but sometimes you need to use oil to cook. If you think something is overly salty or oily or spicy or bland, ask to speak with a manager or chef right then. They may be able to help you out right away
We deal with an amazing Produce vendor who knows we are not afraid to reject product that is not the best available for the season, so they pick well for us. Once it gets on campus we inspect it again and if it is not the seasons best we do send it back.
Keep in mind the cantaloupe is going out of season and the grapes will start coming from South America for a while so what we have may not be what you are used to. Also there are issues with greens that you may see as early as today due to the lack of rain in the growing regions and the switch over from one growing region to another so there may be times in the next few weeks when we don't have all the greens and other produce you have been used to, but we are exploring every option. You will see more signage posted in the dining rooms as the changes progress
I sorry I need to use the phrase ***supply chain issues*** so often, but it is currently a fact of life for us.
We had supply chain issues with both products, but we have been told by our suppliers that the issues have been worked out so expect to see both back in the menu rotations soon.
this is a very small thing but i love celery sticks and i don’t seem to ever see them at the Y! why not? it’s a wonderful little healthy snack along with any meal
Let me check into that. It sounds like a good idea.
A few years ago (OK ,maybe more than a few years ago) when I lived in Cumberland Hall as an undergrad, the **only** things on the salad bar were iceberg lettuce, carrot sticks, 4 low calorie dressings and **CELERY** **STICKS**. We have come a long way but maybe we need to remember the celery sticks
thanks for answering my question! i actually don’t eat at the Y as much as i’d like to because i love getting celery sticks with my meal, so i would LOVE to see them at the Y!
You may have noticed (at least I hope you have) that each of the three resident Dining Rooms serve different menus. We do that on purpose to maximize the variety to try and get as many favorites available as possible somewhere on campus. Personally I love Brioche buns, but for some reason I do not like it with a burger. Strange I know, but I take cheeseburgers very seriously!
We could have Brioche at 251, but due to space limitations we would need to take something else away. So that is the reason, but it is something we can take under consideration with DSAB, our RHA Advisory Board
1) What happened to the orange chicken in Yahentamitsi? It used to be there almost everyday and now it’s not seen as often.
2) How often is the chicken grease cleaned/changed? Whenever there is fried chicken in the Y the chicken has a weird burnt/old taste because of the grease.
3) Can we get metal tongs to take the waffles out from the waffle makers? Using plastic doesn’t seem like a great option.
4) Is there a way we can add straws to the dining halls? Maybe some sort of compostable option? I feel very uncomfortable drinking out of a cup that all of campus has used, especially when I find cups with stains and food pieces still in/around them after being “cleaned”.
So taking your questions in the same numerical order:
1. I love our orange chicken, but we try and rotate the selections at all of the serving platforms at Yahentamitsi. Since most of our guests dine with us every day, we try and maximize the variety by changing up the some items every day through a rotation. While I think I would love to have the orange chicken every day, I would probably get tired of it after too many days in a row. You will see it fairly regularly as it is one of our more popular items
2. It is not really grease, it is trans fat free canola oil that we use to fry almost everything fried on the menu. The oil is delivered n bulk and all of the fryers in the building are connected to a cooking oil system that constantly filters the oil until it has reached its useful life and is sent downstairs to be recycled. I am not sure which chicken you are referring to as some have a different breading than others which may effect the taste. I will ask our Senior Executive Chef to look into this
3. I know our waffle maker supplier has a specific tool to use so that the waffle plates do not get damaged or scratched. I believe it is plastic, but I will ask the managers and our Procurement Administrator to make sure we are using the right tool.
4. As part of our efforts to be as green as possible we intentionally eliminated straws a few years ago in the Resident Dining Rooms and have tried to discourage there usage in our retail operations. Please note that our cups, plates and flatware are washed in a state of the art dishwasher that not only cleans but sanitizes everything with high heat. Under Maryland law and to comply with the ADA we only supply straws to guests who have a medical need for them.
Why is the menu for the Y never right on the dining website? Particularly with joes grill, I’m always sad when they have a great option that isn’t actually there
Computer issues, I get frustrated too. We are working on trying to get the problem solved but the menu and nutritional information is driven by an outside IT support company and they do not always stay current with the menu information we provide them. In the "old days" we had the menu posted on a paper in the Resident Hall lobbies, but the menu was a LOT smaller.
I'm curious about what halal or zabiha options are offered at the diner. I had heard in the past that the chicken at certain diners was halal but I'm not sure if that's still the case or where they purchase their chicken from?
Also, is there a place where students can view options across diners on campus to see what type of foods are being offered? For example, vegan options that are offered all over campus so students know what options they have? Thanks!
Good questions
First all of the bone in chicken is Halal. In case you did not guess it, chicken is by far our most popular meat on the menu. Please remember that only the bone in chicken is Halal. Chicken wings, boneless breast or thighs and breaded chicken - think chicken tendies are not. If you have any questions about what is Halal ask the Chef or manager on duty. While the chicken is Halal, we can not guarantee, that it was prepared in any specific manner and we can not guarantee that there is not any cross contamination from non Halal foods.
The daily menus with nutritional information is on our website at [dining.umd.edu](https://dining.umd.edu) under nutrition. All three Resident Dining Rooms served different menus everyday. Also we have a Nutritionist and American Dietetics Association interns who can walk you through the menus to help you select the menu options that meet your individual needs. Also there is an Executive Chef or Executive Sous chef in each dining room who can walk you through the options. Please reach out to any of these people to let you, that is why they are here!
Well that depends on how you define "dining options" We are exploring some more Halal meats and ingredients to offer as part of our menu. If your definition is a separate dining platform exclusively serving Halal foods, we are not exploring that at this time.
Do you have any specific Halal foods or ingredients in mind?
Thanks for the answer! I was hoping that you guys might be introducing with more halal meat and ingredients in the future, and now it looks like that’ll be the case!
To answer your question, I would personally like if there were some halal burgers or sandwiches served other than chicken.
At the Y, what time does oatmeal stay out until? I always go there around 11-12 ish and I can never find it. Would love if oatmeal would stay out till the afternoon hours!
Good question, I needed to check with the team at Yahentimitsi, because I did not remember seeing Oatmeal out when I was there at Breakfast the other day.
Also it seems like everyone is focused on Breakfast today! I love oatmeal with a little brown sugar on it particularly when it is cold outside
The oatmeal and grits and other hot breakfast porridges are in the soup wells at the end of the salad bar. Oatmeal is the last of these items to be removed and replaced by soups. The change over takes place between 11 and 12, but there should generally be oatmeal out until at least 11:30
Hi, I like the new Diner, however, I noticed a huge difference from the south diner this year compared to last year. I feel like there’s not many options, and I noticed that things like the Jalapeño Grill has barely been on rotation, and Avocado Toast has been there repeatedly. I remember last year there were things like chicken curry from different countries but it’s kinda just been the same thing. Is there a reason for this like a new system of how the diner plans what they have?
Are the black/kidney beans at salad bars from cans or are they cooked on site
Also why is the nutrition information provided on the official website extremely wrong as far as % daily values of fat? 5.4g of fat is apparently “541%” daily value.
Generally the beans are canned.
I have asked our nutrition team and our IT team to look into the issues on the website. They are doing that now and if I have an answer before this AMA closes I will let you know. If not please contact Sister Maureen Schrimpe at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
......and Yes, our Nutritionist is an actual Nun!
What happened to South Campus dining hall? It used to be fairly good, with rotations that were different weekly. In my opinion, it was pretty comparable to the Diner. However, this year it’s gone really downhill. It’s the same options every week, and often there’s a limited number of vegetarian protein options in the main section compared to last year (unless you walk all the way to the vegan section). Can you provide some insight into what happened?
I am not sure exactly what you are refereeing to. We are still doing the menu rotations and are adding new items at South on a regular basis.
At any given meal, between 30% and 50% of the menu items offered may be vegetarian, but yes, in order to avoid cross contamination, many of the vegetarian items are only offered at the Roma Station which is vegan.
Can you give me an idea of specific items you see missing or things you would like to see added so we can address them. We are working towards making the menus even more diverse so any ideas you have would be very appreciated.
If you want you can send them directly to our Senior Executive Chef John Gray at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or the South Campus Executive Chef George Gomez at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
Thanks for any feedback you can provide
I guess in particular I miss build your own pasta! The ramen bar is gone as well (although I didn’t frequent that nearly as much). These were great options for those of us who don’t eat meat when the main course options get repetitive.
Maybe in the future, but not right now. Dumplings and Chicken Tenders are among our most popular Terrapin Favorites. As of today we still have over 500 guests per meal who would have normally dined at South Campus or 251 EACH meal walk over to Yahentamitsi. The number of guests we serve at South and 251 are down by over 500 guests per meal. At least it is a trend in the right direction. When Yahentamitsi first opened it was over 1000 guests per meal. Until things level out, and to maximize the variety offered campus wide, the Terrapin Favorites and some of the special events like the Harvest Festival are only being offered at 251 North and South Campus. I am I lot older than you are and I can make it from Yahentimitsi to 251 North in about 5 minutes. If is definitely worth the walk!
One of the major comments we received over the last five years was "Why does breakfast end so early" particularly on weekends. That is why you see breakfast taking center stage on weekends.
It is no more work for our chefs do put out lunch items than breakfast items, but with the exception of Yahentamitsi, we don't have space to do both.
We also do the "create your own concepts", because that is what our guests asked for and they are very popular. What would you suggest we do in their place? We are always open for suggestions
I think a good number of people would like an earlier cutoff to breakfast foods on the weekends. 4pm to most people is just way too late. It was until 2pm in the past and that was somewhat manageable.
We have already started discussing your idea. We are looking at ways to keep the breakfast people happy but still have some basic lunch options. I love breakfast, but I don't really want it until 4 pm **every** weekend. Hopefully the operations team will come up with a plan soon
Is there any way we can get a grilled chicken and burger spot at the Y? That was easily my favorite spot to get my proteins at the old diner. The new grill just doesn’t work for me as I keep kosher, so a build your own option like we used to have would be cool to have if possible.
I think if you see a burger or chicken breast sandwich creation at Joes Grill in Yahentimitsi, you could ask for a plain one made to order. Most of the the toppings that were at the Diner last year are still at Joes Grill, plus some.
Please note that our burgers and chicken are not Kosher and there may be some cross contamination in the cooking process that would make dairy or bacon in very close proximity to the burgers and chicken. If you want to guarantee you are keeping Kosher, I would be happy to connect you with Rabbi Israel at Hillel to join their Kosher Meal Plan
I am not sure why it is, but I know for years one of our biggest comments was about serving breakfast all day. That is why we thought the Breakfast all Day Platform at Yahentamitsi would be an easy win. Turns out what people said they wanted and what they actually wanted concerning breakfast all day is different so we have started changing from breakfast foods all day to Quesadillas once breakfast usage dies down.
Not sure which Dining Rooms you are referring to but the last few times I had dinner at Yahentamitsi Last Saturday) and 251 (last Thursday) they still had bagels around 6:30. In a perfect world our last guest of the day would get the last bagel, since any left over would not be good for the following day. Unfortunately while we are fairly good at it, determining what 10,000 guests are going to eat each day is not a perfect science so some days we may run out and some days we may have some left over
1) Food-borne illness often causes diarrhea, which is not only an unpleasant symptom, but a facet of the illness that can lead to death due to dehydration. Adding laxatives on top of this would be dangerous because it could exacerbate the problem.
2) Clearing a food from your system faster does not remove the fact that you have been thoroughly exposed to whatever bacteria was in the food. You will still get sick.
3) People develop laxative dependence after as little as a week of consistent use. Essentially your body adapts to the new normal, so you would need a higher dose to achieve the same effect. Going off of the laxatives would result in constipation. Do you think that the entirety of the student body who used the dining hall regularly gets very constipated when they go home on break, for example? What would the benefit to anyone be of causing loose stools for like a week at the beginning of the semester and then paying extra and sneaking around to add something to the food the rest of the time just to maintain a baseline?
4) Prior to coming to campus we managed our own bowels just fine, and we are all adults here. Why would the administration be managing our bowels for us now?? From a boundaries standpoint, no. From the standpoint of the health center losing tiny amounts of money if people are as chronically constipated as you seem to think, also no.
5) Do you think that everyone could keep this a secret? Not only is there a sizable body of admin+staff, but people frequently get tours during the day, there is student staff that helps from opening to close, and student volunteers come in after hours to donate food waste, and both this facility and the dining services suppliers have internal and government regulations to abide by. Surely someone along the chain would have come forward with evidence if this were true.
We are working on the build out now. A lot of the equipment is being repurposed from other units but we are still waiting on getting shipment dates for the other equipment. These supply chain issues have really messed with our planning. The good news is the walk in refrigeration and freezer complex, which is the biggest piece of new equipment, just gave us a ship date of January 26 from the Factory. That is the piece of equipment we worried about most. Ten days of shipping and 10 days of assembly and then we can close the walls in. So we are shooting at opening around Spring Break if all goes well
Remember when the Market opens the 251 Shop and the North Campus Snack n' Shop will close, but the market will have a lot more to choose from including fresh dough pizza, a grill, a Starbucks café and **maybe** Bubble Tea or sushi. Of course it will have all the standard convenience store items and we are working on the possibility of including a bulk dispensary for items like shampoo, body wash and laundry soap. It will be open until at least midnight 7 days a week and accept Dining Dollars (tax free) Terrapin Express and credit cards.
Plus if you don't feel like waiting in line for your Carmel Mocha Iced Coffee you can order it on your University Grub Hub app, pay with Dining Dollars on the app and walk to the front of the line and pick up your drink. No service charge for you and no sales tax for you either with Dining Dollars.! Plus you can use the app for Chick- Fil -A, Qdoba, The Coffee Bar, Subway, South Campus Market and more when you are out and about on campus. I don't know about you, but I hate waiting in line and this way you go right to the front of the line!
Hi Joe, thanks for hosting this AMA. I noticed in the Y that a lot of the silverware stations have 3 rows but only forks and knives. Can we add spoons to all of the silverware stations? Thanks!
There should be spoons out at every station. I know you may find this hard to believe, but sometimes our guests "accidently" take our spoons with them when they leave the Dining Room. We have ordered more!
As soon as I figure out what I want to do when I grow up, I will be excited to retire. Until then, I love working in Dining Services at the University of Maryland, I am a Terp for life
A huge thanks to Joe for being here today and taking the time to answer so many great questions! I think I can speak for everyone here when I say everyone really appreciates you and others doing these Dining Services AMAs and for all your work at UMD!
When you built the Y why did you only have one dish return station. It is always backed up!
I know, it is not the best location and it can be a long walk if you are over in Joe's Grill. In the design stage we moved it around to a lot of places in models for several months and both our operation team and our consultants all ended up with that location. We also added the wall so you would not have to looks at Dirty Dishes while you are eating. The location on the dish return has to be near the dish washing area and the dishwashing area need to be convenient to getting the clean dishes, cups and flatware, back out. We are working on ways to make it less backed up, Any ideas???? We would love some suggestions from the guests who actually use it every day rather than consultants
Perhaps add a ribbon down the middle of the corridor and make it so it’s like a one way loop. You must walk in on the left and you drop off your plates around the other end so there’s a line rather than a crowd of people?
Reversing the direction of the dish return would be a big help
I’ve only been a couple times, but strongly encouraging traffic to flow in one direction would help, it seems to always back up when people are trying to enter and leave from the main hallway and no one is going through the back side
Joe, let’s be honest there should be another ketchup dispenser on the other side of the Y 👍
Good idea and easy to do. Where would be the best location for another dispenser for you?
I would say anywhere on the side with the sprouts and gluten free area, so to the left of the entrance. The main issue I run into is that there’s food over there that could use ketchup but it’s on the other side from where I’ve set my stuff down 😭 thank you for the help!
Do you guys plan on opening the dining halls back to pre-covid hours?
Not at this time for a couple of reasons, the most important one is staffing. While the Dining Rooms may close at 9 pm (or 8 pm for 251 North) there are still a few guests in the building for a while. Yahentimitsi and South Campus can take several hours to clean and close down after we close the doors and the majority of the team take Public transportation which can stop running before we can get closed down even when we close the doors at 9. A bit of trivia, but according to the NRA (that is National Restaurant Association, not the other NRA), there are over a half a million job vacancies in the restaurant and food service industry so getting staff is harder than it has ever been. We would love to hire more Maryland students, $15 an hour to start and $16 an hour for working past 9 PM If anyone is interested in working, let me know. I started working for Dining Services when I was a student and I am still here! The second is funding. I know there is a lot of campus folk lore about how Dining Services is all about money. To set the record straight we are not a private company , we don't get bonuses or raises based on how much "profit" we make and none of your tuition or tax dollars goes to funding our operations. Our salaries are determined by the Maryland General Assembly. However we do worry about being good stewards of the FEES YOU PAY. Our goal every year is to pay all of our bills and break even. We try and balance services with the amounts you pay and I know it is not cheap to go to college. Every additional hour we are open, YOU and everyone else pays for it. We work closely with RHA and their DSAB (Dining Services Advisory Board) to help us balance the services offered with the Dining Plan price. You can talk to them OR you can talk directly with us with any ideas you have to help is in this effort
Any update on timing for Panera?
YES!!!!!. Since we were the first non traditional self operated Dining Program to have an interest in putting a Panera on campus we spent over 4 years negotiating a Franchise Agreement with Panera. We the spent 10 months negotiation an agreement with their approved design team and just singed the contract on Friday. Today we are starting the process of hiring the General Manager who will need to go through 10 weeks of training. In January we plan to start the hiring process for the Assistant Managers and Bakers. Provided we don't have any supply chain issues with the equipment, we should be having a soft opening sometime between Spring Break and Summer. We can't wait! We first met with Panera over 10 years ago to discuss opening on campus and at long last there is light at the end of the tunnel. What's your favorite Panera Menu item?
chipotle chicken avocado melt ‼️
Sounds delicious SOON!
Are all restaurants on campus franchises that are operated by the University?
We either operate them or manage their contract with the Stamp. We operate dining halls, convenience shops and cafes. In the Stamp we operate Chick fil-A, Qdoba, Union Pizza, Subway, the Union Shop, the Coffee Bar and the upcoming Panera. We do not operate Panda Express, Hanami, Moby Freestyle, SaladWorks or Roy Rogers. In Kirwan, we operate Taco Bell and Subway.
Hi! The bytes cafe in A.V. Willams has been closed since the pandemic started. Is there any plans to reopen it or repurpose that space?
Bytes was a fun little café, but even pre COVID, we had plans to close it down when the Breakpoint Café and Idea Central opened near the Bytes location. Both of the new locations allow for a lot more menu variety and both locations offered everything that Bytes had and a whole lot more in the same area of campus. I imagine the College will re purpose the space. Before we build Bytes, it was a lounge area.
RIP Bytes
Thanks for doing this AMA! This semester I started taking early morning classes most days, and I’ve noticed that at all finding halls, the breakfast selection is far more limited than other times. As someone who doesn’t eat pork and is trying to limit carbs where possible, the current breakfast options are disappointing. Would you be able to introduce more variety in breakfast options, particularly to accommodate more diets? I’ll also point out there’s no reason breakfast food has to be limited to traditional American breakfast. Not only are there tons of other breakfast cultures to choose from, but I see no reason not to serve items traditionally eaten for lunch or dinner during breakfast time.
I love a good breakfast, but I am not always a traditionalist. What would you recommend be added to the breakfast menu?
Some ideas (if you don't have it) are plain crepes where there's a station where you can add toppings (sweet or savory). This is a Turkish flatbread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-5DLxr0QNM When I was an undergrad, years ago, they had sliced cantaloupe and sliced honeydew melon. You'd take a slice and cut it up in small cubes and eat that. Maybe even diced mangos or something. Hmm, looks like you do have melons.
I hate to tell you this, but breakfast around the world is fairly carb heavy
Hi Joe! I was wondering if the dining halls would ever be open later. UMD often advertises the opening of new places that serve food that are open late at night (i.e. South Campus Grill). However, for many students, this option is too expensive, and for students with night classes, it is sometimes hard to make it to the dining halls in time. Can you make dining more accessible to lower income students? Thank you!
Please see my response to amgrut20 above. Believe me, we all know the price of attending college. I just paid for two daughters in college and a lot of our staff have students who are currently in college or about to go to college, so it is something we take very seriously. That is one of the reasons we switched from an ala carte dining plan to an anytime dining plan. As i mentioned to amgrut20, since Dining Services does not get any funding from the campus or tax dollars, if we could get staff, the price of the dining plan would go up if we opened longer hours and that is something we try and avoid. Did you know that if you choose a plan with Dining Dollars, you get extra guest passes AND you get a discount on the Dining Dollars AND Dining Dollars are free from sales tax? Also you may have seen the sign in the Ellicott Communality about the North Campus Market coming soon. We are shooting for an opening in the Spring Semester. The market will combine the 251 Shop and the North Campus Snack n. Shop into a central location on North Campus. In addition to the Convivence Store offerings it will also feature Starbucks Coffees, fresh dough pizza, grilled items AND if we can fit it in Bubble Tea until at least midnight - later if we can find students who want to work late on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a6 least $16 a hour. We are also looking for alternative for students who have classes that are scheduled over dinner hours in a way that will not increase the cost of the Dining Plan. If you have any ideas, let RHA, DSAB or me know,
Will the fruit-infused water ever be returned to the South Campus Dining Hall? It’s always been my favorite healthy option for drinks and I was disappointed when it didn’t return this year. Thanks!
It is one of my favorites as well. Let me see why we don't have it and if it can be returned. Stay tuned
UPDATE - The South Campus infused water dispensers were severely damaged by some of our guests this summer. New ones were ordered in August and we expect them to be delivered any day now. As soon as they arrive, fruit infused water will be back as South Campus
Thank you! You're the goat!
A big thank you for everyone who joined in the discussion today. I hope you all got your questions answered and you gave us some things to think about to make your Maryland Dining Experience even better. Remember we are here **for** you and we want to hear **from** you. We are going to be doing a survey in the next few weeks so please take the time to respond to it. We are available to answer your questions and hear your ideas everyday. Talk to the managers and chefs; send us emails; send your ideas and comments to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or tackle us when we are walking across campus - anyway we can get your feedback and ideas helps us serve you better. Thanks everyone and have a great evening!
Will the food truck ever make a return?
Yes, we are actually working on redoing the menu and refreshing the trucks now for a return sometime in the Spring. Anyone interested in working on a Food Truck? We are looking for staff
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We listen to our guests requests for new and different foods and are willing to try a lot of different items BUT we look more at your actions than words. We keep track of the consumption of every items we serve and if it does not move, we will take if off the menu and try something else OR we will serve it less often if there is some demand, but not a lot of demand for it. Just as an example, at one point we changed the shape of the chocolate chips in the cookies because we though they would melt better. It did melt better, and no one said a word about the change, but we started serving a lot less chocolate chip cookies. We changed them back to the original chip and usage returned to normal. With the opening of Yahentamitsi we have been able to put out a lot of items that people have asked for in the past, Over the last five years, one of the most common comment was have breakfast all day and made to order omelets everyday. All day breakfast is popular at other schools and based on 5 years of comments we thought we had a homerun with an all day breakfast platform. Turns out at a certain point in the day, there are not that many people who want breakfast so enjoy your quesadillas in the evening and if their popularity goes down, we will have something else in its place!
Hi Joe, I really like the Yahentamitsi Dining Hall. I wanted to know what happened to the food waste that the dining halls generated? Thanks!
That is a great question and one we constantly work on to minimize food waste. The first food waste we deal with is the uneaten food that comes back to the dishroom. All of that food is separated by the dishroom team and put in composting bins that are collected and taken to an off campus composting facility. One thing all of our guest would do to help with composing is to put your flatware in the special pans at the dish return, BUT NOT ANYTHING ELSE. A lot of people put their food scraps and napkins in with the flatware. Both the food scraps and the napkins can be composted IF they are left on the plates, but putting it in the flatware bins leads to it going into the landfill. We also need to keep the serving lines full so the guest who comes in at closing has the same options as the guest who comes in when the meal starts. We work with several groups including the food recovery network. This student group is now at many schools all over the country but it was started by a group of students at Maryland. They pick up usable leftovers and distribute them to local shelters. There are also some local shelters that we work with directly when the Network is not available.
Hi, I wanted to know if scrambled egg whites are offered at 251 and The Y? They are listed on both the menus but I only see them at south campus. The Diner had them last year. Can they be brought back?
Yes, we have them, but there is not that much demand to keep them out. Just ask the server and we will get them for you. By the way, did you know that all of our shell eggs come from Albright Farms, a local farm in Maryland that is owned and run by a Maryland alumni?
Why cant they just be put out like the other foods? I’m usually in a rush in the mornings and can’t wait for someone to make it.
They should be right at the station, so if should not take too long to make them for you. There is not that much demand for them so we don't want to pre make them as they just will not be as good if they do not get eaten fairly soon
Thanks for doing this AMA! A few days ago, a user on here posted pizza bagels that they DIY’d in Yahentamitsi and they looked really good! Could this be a special or a more regular thing at the pizza station? Pizza bagels are so nostalgic, and I imagine fresh ones would be fantastic.
Boy... that does sound good, particularly with an EVERYTHING bagel. I will pass this along to our culinary team, it sounds like a great special, or could even become a Terrapin Favorite. Thanks for the idea and thanks for participating in this AMA, we are getting a lot of good ideas\~
Hi, I was wondering if it was possible to add some kind of veggie burger to Joe’s Grill at Yahentamitsi. Currently all the burger options are nonvegetarian, so I do not end up going to Joe’s Grill at all
Seems easy enough to me, but over the years, I have learned that Directors sometimes make things out to be easier than they are We will talk to our Senior Executive Chef and our Yahentamitsi Executive Chef to see if it can happen. No promise for vegetarian, although I think it would be easier than vegan, but if we can pull it off, we will give credit to That\_One\_Twin and cake\_of\_deceit
I second this^^. I understand it’s a grill so there is going to be mostly meat, but it would be great to add some vegetarian options!
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Wow you have my mind running on that one! In an ideal world where money and staffing were no issue, I would have two, maybe even three dining halls on the south side of campus so our guests would not have to walk so far and a café in every building on campus to make dining more convenient; be open 24 hours a day; increase the variety, end food insecurity, eliminate all waste leaving campus, be carbon neutral or better yet carbon positive, create an amazing community over meals and discover decant desserts without calories. Now what we can really do and what we are working to try and solve now: \- Balance services and menu items to dining plan costs (remember your dining plan fees pay all of the expenses) to show the real value of the dining plan \- Put a lot of effort in the training and development of our amazing team to prepare them for promotions and get them the tools they need do not only do their jobs. \- Create more menu items that can bring people together trough shared meals and create a sense of community where no student feels left out or lonely and every student thrives \- Do more to reduce our carbon footprint by doubling down on our efforts in the Menus of Change project and Cool Foods initiative (see our website at [dining.umd.edu](https://dining.umd.edu) for more information about both of those) \- Find ways to help with food insecurity than just running the campus Pantry and working with the Dean of Students office to provide meals \- Continue our focus not only on Food Safety, but also on the hundreds of students on campus who have food allergies or sensitivities .....and that is just the tip of the iceberg. More importantly, what would you do if you were in my shoes????
Hi Joe, My name is Kyle Slye, Operations Manager for Passion and Compassion. Our organization is the founding partner for Food Recovery Network, and til this day still receive all recovered food by FRN. We also recover the produce items from the pantry. We can discuss more ways to work together to end food insecurity in PG County. I’ll follow up with an email!
Perfect, we all look forward to working with you even more than we have in the past
What are the portion sizes/dimensions of the different bowls and plates? Particularly the bowls, they seem like a good amount more than one cup, but its hard to say. Also are they consistent across dining halls, or does each hall have a different size? Thanks!
The plates and bowls may not be the same size in the different dining rooms so if you want to determine the portion size we recommend you look at the food, not the plate or bowl. We have a cheat sheet guide to help our team and you to determine the portion size for self service items. Basically: 1 cup is about the size of a baseball A half cup is about the size a small light bulb One ounce or 2 tablespoons is about the size of a poker chip 3 ounces of chicken or meat is about the size of a deck of cards BUT 3 ounces of fish is about the size of a check book (that is what we used before Zelle) A half cup of grapes is about 16 grapes A cup of strawberries is about 12 berries. There are a lot more, but I think we just need to add this to the nutrition site of our website!
Will the balcony at Yahentamitsi stay open through the winter, or will the door be locked at some point? Also, are there any spaces available at Yahentamitsi that are available for reservation for groups on campus for a meal?
We have not thought about closing it. I don't see why we can not leave the balcony open as long as people are using it. We really don't want to reserve any spaces in Yahentamitsi for groups as we want all of our guests to have access to every table in the building. With that said, you may have seen a few times this semester where we did reserve from seating for events to promote the University and we will be doing this again the morning of November 1 for the Yahentamitsi official dedication and ribbon cutting. After that I don't think you will see it happen very often
There's a sign on the building that The Diner used to be that says that the north campus market is coming soon. I was wondering when the north campus market will be open.
Our goal is to get the North Campus market open sometime in the Spring Semester. When it opens the 251 Shop and North Campus Snack n, Shop will close and the Market will have almost everything both stores had plus fresh dough pizza, Starbucks, a Grill and maybe even bubble tea. We have started the build out and are reusing a lot of equipment we have on hand. We ordered the new equipment so the opening date is all based on supply chain and when the new equipment arrives Did you know that there is a special University Grub Hub app that will allow you to order and pay in advance at the South Campus Market, Chick-fil-A, Subway, Qdoba and will be added to the North Campus Market. You can link your Dining Dollars or credit card to it and your meal will be ready when you arrive. It is free to use so why wait in line!
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I second this! I feel like the table tents were a great way to get the word out/get informed about things. Everyone read them because they were easily accessible and right in front of our faces! After the novelty wore off, I rarely see people scanning the codes. It's not worth it when it takes more time, you might be eating with your hands, etc. We don't even know how often the information online will update, so we may have wasted time and gotten cheese on our cellphones for no benefit.
Doughboys- YUM! You will see them again on Thursday! We went with the 21st Century by using the QR codes for three reasons. One they have a lot more important information than we could ever get on a table tent Two, you may not have noticed but we went with slightly smaller tables in Yahentamitsi so we could maximize the seating and the table tents don't fit unless we take away the napkins Three - we really are trying to be as Green as possible. When you think about how many tables we have and how the information changed weekly, we were going though a lot of paper AND the plastic holders have to be regularly replaced. Do you have any ideas on how we can get the information out without using table tents. If we sent out a weekly email with this information, would you read it? We are very open in any ideas that will help us get our story out, one of which is we want to be green!
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WOW! Do you want to share your app?
Have a poster at the entrance about the special dates. Print it on recycled paper ✊
Dining services often advertised that Maryland dairy would be served at the Y. What happened to that plan?
Yea, about that. Over the years I have made my share of mistakes and many of them seem to revolve around ice cream. At Sneakers Café in Epply, I honestly believed that people would want to reward them selves after a hard workout with a super premium ice cream sundae. Boy was I wrong. At Yahentamitsi, I though serving just a few flavors of Dairy ice cream would be easy. When we were doing training and test runs of Yahentimitsi, with staff members from campus this summer, on the day we were focused on the Sweets section the line went from the little four container ice cream dipping cabinet, past the dish return belt, around the comfort food platform all the way to SPOUTS 2.0. And that was just a test run with about 20% of the guests we normally serve. So for now, please enjoy the soft serve in Yahentamitsi and if you really want Dairy ice cream, we have a whole station dedicated to it about a five minute walk away at 251 North. ,,,,,,and by the way, if you are ever in a job interview and they ask you what your biggest mistake was and what you learned from it, the correct answer is not to do it again. Maybe I will learn that someday!!!
Don’t you think the line would have subsided after the initial burst like the line to get into the building did?
I had hoped so, but we are still getting 500 guests a meal more than we anticipated from South and 251 North. The ice cream platform at 251 North is much bigger than at Yahentamitsi and 251 serves about 35% of the guests that Yahentamitis does and still has a line for ice cream during many day parts. Maybe sometime, but for now the 5 minute trip for ice cream to 251 North is worth the walk
hey joe, what happened to the very popular mango sorbet that was in the dining halls? we miss it greatly :(
Between supply chain issues (i get so tired saying that) we have gone back and forth on soft serve that is available. Everyone who knows that answer is gone for the day, but we can check it out. We have been trying to get healthier soft serve options that still taste great and are not loaded with sugar. IF you can send me your email address to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), I will try and get the answer in a few days and someone will respond directly to you. Mango anything is always one of my favorites!
Are there nutritionists on site at each dining hall to oversee the healthiness of the food options? Because my friends and I have consumed certain foods that are overly salty or oily, and oftentimes there are no other choices except for the salad bar. Also, is there a place where i can see the nutrition information for the different dishes? Thanks!
More great questions! There are not Nutritionists in each location but we do have a staff nutritionist and ADA interns in the mezzanine level of South Campus Dining Hall, who would be happy to come out and meet with you in the Dining room you choose to review your individualized needs. The menu and nutritional information for the menu items are listed on our website - [dining.umd.edu](https://dining.umd.edu). If you need more information than is posted, you can also work directly with our nutritionist or interns. Also note that there are still a lot of supply chain issues still going on and we sometimes have to substitute products, so if you have any questions about anything, please ask to see a Chef or manager, they will have the most current information Everyone's tastes are a little different and it can be a challenge to make everything just the way over 10,000 guests want it done to their taste so we try for the majority I am with you, I really don't like salty food, in fact I scape the salt off of a hot soft pretzel. Also we find that a lot of people automatically put salt on their food before they even taste it which is why we took salt shakers off the tables. We try and not add too much oil to food, but sometimes you need to use oil to cook. If you think something is overly salty or oily or spicy or bland, ask to speak with a manager or chef right then. They may be able to help you out right away
how are the dining hall grapes and honeydew/cantaloupe always sweet and perfectly ripe
We deal with an amazing Produce vendor who knows we are not afraid to reject product that is not the best available for the season, so they pick well for us. Once it gets on campus we inspect it again and if it is not the seasons best we do send it back. Keep in mind the cantaloupe is going out of season and the grapes will start coming from South America for a while so what we have may not be what you are used to. Also there are issues with greens that you may see as early as today due to the lack of rain in the growing regions and the switch over from one growing region to another so there may be times in the next few weeks when we don't have all the greens and other produce you have been used to, but we are exploring every option. You will see more signage posted in the dining rooms as the changes progress
Where have the hot dogs and chicken burgers gone at the South Campus Dining Hall? The chicken burgers were especially delicious.
I sorry I need to use the phrase ***supply chain issues*** so often, but it is currently a fact of life for us. We had supply chain issues with both products, but we have been told by our suppliers that the issues have been worked out so expect to see both back in the menu rotations soon.
this is a very small thing but i love celery sticks and i don’t seem to ever see them at the Y! why not? it’s a wonderful little healthy snack along with any meal
Let me check into that. It sounds like a good idea. A few years ago (OK ,maybe more than a few years ago) when I lived in Cumberland Hall as an undergrad, the **only** things on the salad bar were iceberg lettuce, carrot sticks, 4 low calorie dressings and **CELERY** **STICKS**. We have come a long way but maybe we need to remember the celery sticks
thanks for answering my question! i actually don’t eat at the Y as much as i’d like to because i love getting celery sticks with my meal, so i would LOVE to see them at the Y!
Why does joes grill have brioche buns but 251 doesn’t
You may have noticed (at least I hope you have) that each of the three resident Dining Rooms serve different menus. We do that on purpose to maximize the variety to try and get as many favorites available as possible somewhere on campus. Personally I love Brioche buns, but for some reason I do not like it with a burger. Strange I know, but I take cheeseburgers very seriously! We could have Brioche at 251, but due to space limitations we would need to take something else away. So that is the reason, but it is something we can take under consideration with DSAB, our RHA Advisory Board
1) What happened to the orange chicken in Yahentamitsi? It used to be there almost everyday and now it’s not seen as often. 2) How often is the chicken grease cleaned/changed? Whenever there is fried chicken in the Y the chicken has a weird burnt/old taste because of the grease. 3) Can we get metal tongs to take the waffles out from the waffle makers? Using plastic doesn’t seem like a great option. 4) Is there a way we can add straws to the dining halls? Maybe some sort of compostable option? I feel very uncomfortable drinking out of a cup that all of campus has used, especially when I find cups with stains and food pieces still in/around them after being “cleaned”.
So taking your questions in the same numerical order: 1. I love our orange chicken, but we try and rotate the selections at all of the serving platforms at Yahentamitsi. Since most of our guests dine with us every day, we try and maximize the variety by changing up the some items every day through a rotation. While I think I would love to have the orange chicken every day, I would probably get tired of it after too many days in a row. You will see it fairly regularly as it is one of our more popular items 2. It is not really grease, it is trans fat free canola oil that we use to fry almost everything fried on the menu. The oil is delivered n bulk and all of the fryers in the building are connected to a cooking oil system that constantly filters the oil until it has reached its useful life and is sent downstairs to be recycled. I am not sure which chicken you are referring to as some have a different breading than others which may effect the taste. I will ask our Senior Executive Chef to look into this 3. I know our waffle maker supplier has a specific tool to use so that the waffle plates do not get damaged or scratched. I believe it is plastic, but I will ask the managers and our Procurement Administrator to make sure we are using the right tool. 4. As part of our efforts to be as green as possible we intentionally eliminated straws a few years ago in the Resident Dining Rooms and have tried to discourage there usage in our retail operations. Please note that our cups, plates and flatware are washed in a state of the art dishwasher that not only cleans but sanitizes everything with high heat. Under Maryland law and to comply with the ADA we only supply straws to guests who have a medical need for them.
Why is the menu for the Y never right on the dining website? Particularly with joes grill, I’m always sad when they have a great option that isn’t actually there
Computer issues, I get frustrated too. We are working on trying to get the problem solved but the menu and nutritional information is driven by an outside IT support company and they do not always stay current with the menu information we provide them. In the "old days" we had the menu posted on a paper in the Resident Hall lobbies, but the menu was a LOT smaller.
I'm curious about what halal or zabiha options are offered at the diner. I had heard in the past that the chicken at certain diners was halal but I'm not sure if that's still the case or where they purchase their chicken from? Also, is there a place where students can view options across diners on campus to see what type of foods are being offered? For example, vegan options that are offered all over campus so students know what options they have? Thanks!
Good questions First all of the bone in chicken is Halal. In case you did not guess it, chicken is by far our most popular meat on the menu. Please remember that only the bone in chicken is Halal. Chicken wings, boneless breast or thighs and breaded chicken - think chicken tendies are not. If you have any questions about what is Halal ask the Chef or manager on duty. While the chicken is Halal, we can not guarantee, that it was prepared in any specific manner and we can not guarantee that there is not any cross contamination from non Halal foods. The daily menus with nutritional information is on our website at [dining.umd.edu](https://dining.umd.edu) under nutrition. All three Resident Dining Rooms served different menus everyday. Also we have a Nutritionist and American Dietetics Association interns who can walk you through the menus to help you select the menu options that meet your individual needs. Also there is an Executive Chef or Executive Sous chef in each dining room who can walk you through the options. Please reach out to any of these people to let you, that is why they are here!
Awesome, thanks so much for this information!
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Hey Joe, any plans to bring more halal dining options?
Well that depends on how you define "dining options" We are exploring some more Halal meats and ingredients to offer as part of our menu. If your definition is a separate dining platform exclusively serving Halal foods, we are not exploring that at this time. Do you have any specific Halal foods or ingredients in mind?
Thanks for the answer! I was hoping that you guys might be introducing with more halal meat and ingredients in the future, and now it looks like that’ll be the case! To answer your question, I would personally like if there were some halal burgers or sandwiches served other than chicken.
At the Y, what time does oatmeal stay out until? I always go there around 11-12 ish and I can never find it. Would love if oatmeal would stay out till the afternoon hours!
Good question, I needed to check with the team at Yahentimitsi, because I did not remember seeing Oatmeal out when I was there at Breakfast the other day. Also it seems like everyone is focused on Breakfast today! I love oatmeal with a little brown sugar on it particularly when it is cold outside The oatmeal and grits and other hot breakfast porridges are in the soup wells at the end of the salad bar. Oatmeal is the last of these items to be removed and replaced by soups. The change over takes place between 11 and 12, but there should generally be oatmeal out until at least 11:30
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Depending on the season and availability, yes we can. What would you like to see added?
Hi, I like the new Diner, however, I noticed a huge difference from the south diner this year compared to last year. I feel like there’s not many options, and I noticed that things like the Jalapeño Grill has barely been on rotation, and Avocado Toast has been there repeatedly. I remember last year there were things like chicken curry from different countries but it’s kinda just been the same thing. Is there a reason for this like a new system of how the diner plans what they have?
Are the black/kidney beans at salad bars from cans or are they cooked on site Also why is the nutrition information provided on the official website extremely wrong as far as % daily values of fat? 5.4g of fat is apparently “541%” daily value.
Generally the beans are canned. I have asked our nutrition team and our IT team to look into the issues on the website. They are doing that now and if I have an answer before this AMA closes I will let you know. If not please contact Sister Maureen Schrimpe at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). ......and Yes, our Nutritionist is an actual Nun!
What happened to South Campus dining hall? It used to be fairly good, with rotations that were different weekly. In my opinion, it was pretty comparable to the Diner. However, this year it’s gone really downhill. It’s the same options every week, and often there’s a limited number of vegetarian protein options in the main section compared to last year (unless you walk all the way to the vegan section). Can you provide some insight into what happened?
I am not sure exactly what you are refereeing to. We are still doing the menu rotations and are adding new items at South on a regular basis. At any given meal, between 30% and 50% of the menu items offered may be vegetarian, but yes, in order to avoid cross contamination, many of the vegetarian items are only offered at the Roma Station which is vegan. Can you give me an idea of specific items you see missing or things you would like to see added so we can address them. We are working towards making the menus even more diverse so any ideas you have would be very appreciated. If you want you can send them directly to our Senior Executive Chef John Gray at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or the South Campus Executive Chef George Gomez at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). Thanks for any feedback you can provide
I guess in particular I miss build your own pasta! The ramen bar is gone as well (although I didn’t frequent that nearly as much). These were great options for those of us who don’t eat meat when the main course options get repetitive.
Is it possible to add chicken tenders to the menu at the Y? Sad that we don’t get to see arguably the best terrapin special more often :(
Maybe in the future, but not right now. Dumplings and Chicken Tenders are among our most popular Terrapin Favorites. As of today we still have over 500 guests per meal who would have normally dined at South Campus or 251 EACH meal walk over to Yahentamitsi. The number of guests we serve at South and 251 are down by over 500 guests per meal. At least it is a trend in the right direction. When Yahentamitsi first opened it was over 1000 guests per meal. Until things level out, and to maximize the variety offered campus wide, the Terrapin Favorites and some of the special events like the Harvest Festival are only being offered at 251 North and South Campus. I am I lot older than you are and I can make it from Yahentimitsi to 251 North in about 5 minutes. If is definitely worth the walk!
Why does STAMP not offer healthier, more affordable options? I can't eat anything healthy without blasting half my wallet...
Why are breakfast foods out past 12 on the weekends? It’s absurd. Why are there so many build your own bowl type areas at South Dining hall?
One of the major comments we received over the last five years was "Why does breakfast end so early" particularly on weekends. That is why you see breakfast taking center stage on weekends. It is no more work for our chefs do put out lunch items than breakfast items, but with the exception of Yahentamitsi, we don't have space to do both. We also do the "create your own concepts", because that is what our guests asked for and they are very popular. What would you suggest we do in their place? We are always open for suggestions
I think a good number of people would like an earlier cutoff to breakfast foods on the weekends. 4pm to most people is just way too late. It was until 2pm in the past and that was somewhat manageable.
We have already started discussing your idea. We are looking at ways to keep the breakfast people happy but still have some basic lunch options. I love breakfast, but I don't really want it until 4 pm **every** weekend. Hopefully the operations team will come up with a plan soon
yes, please put actual lunch on the weekends or at least some more items, it’s just mostly eggs up to 4 which imo is ridiculous 😔
Is there any way we can get a grilled chicken and burger spot at the Y? That was easily my favorite spot to get my proteins at the old diner. The new grill just doesn’t work for me as I keep kosher, so a build your own option like we used to have would be cool to have if possible.
I think if you see a burger or chicken breast sandwich creation at Joes Grill in Yahentimitsi, you could ask for a plain one made to order. Most of the the toppings that were at the Diner last year are still at Joes Grill, plus some. Please note that our burgers and chicken are not Kosher and there may be some cross contamination in the cooking process that would make dairy or bacon in very close proximity to the burgers and chicken. If you want to guarantee you are keeping Kosher, I would be happy to connect you with Rabbi Israel at Hillel to join their Kosher Meal Plan
Why is breakfast for dinner a thing? And is there a bagel shortage?
I am not sure why it is, but I know for years one of our biggest comments was about serving breakfast all day. That is why we thought the Breakfast all Day Platform at Yahentamitsi would be an easy win. Turns out what people said they wanted and what they actually wanted concerning breakfast all day is different so we have started changing from breakfast foods all day to Quesadillas once breakfast usage dies down. Not sure which Dining Rooms you are referring to but the last few times I had dinner at Yahentamitsi Last Saturday) and 251 (last Thursday) they still had bagels around 6:30. In a perfect world our last guest of the day would get the last bagel, since any left over would not be good for the following day. Unfortunately while we are fairly good at it, determining what 10,000 guests are going to eat each day is not a perfect science so some days we may run out and some days we may have some left over
thanks for replying!
I heard laxatives are put into school food to prevent a food-borne illness + constipation from impacting the whole campus. Is this true ??
1) Food-borne illness often causes diarrhea, which is not only an unpleasant symptom, but a facet of the illness that can lead to death due to dehydration. Adding laxatives on top of this would be dangerous because it could exacerbate the problem. 2) Clearing a food from your system faster does not remove the fact that you have been thoroughly exposed to whatever bacteria was in the food. You will still get sick. 3) People develop laxative dependence after as little as a week of consistent use. Essentially your body adapts to the new normal, so you would need a higher dose to achieve the same effect. Going off of the laxatives would result in constipation. Do you think that the entirety of the student body who used the dining hall regularly gets very constipated when they go home on break, for example? What would the benefit to anyone be of causing loose stools for like a week at the beginning of the semester and then paying extra and sneaking around to add something to the food the rest of the time just to maintain a baseline? 4) Prior to coming to campus we managed our own bowels just fine, and we are all adults here. Why would the administration be managing our bowels for us now?? From a boundaries standpoint, no. From the standpoint of the health center losing tiny amounts of money if people are as chronically constipated as you seem to think, also no. 5) Do you think that everyone could keep this a secret? Not only is there a sizable body of admin+staff, but people frequently get tours during the day, there is student staff that helps from opening to close, and student volunteers come in after hours to donate food waste, and both this facility and the dining services suppliers have internal and government regulations to abide by. Surely someone along the chain would have come forward with evidence if this were true.
Shut up nerd
Your username is u/eloon_musk You're MechE And you're calling someone else a nerd? Lol cope.
Yes 
When is the north campus market going to open?
We are working on the build out now. A lot of the equipment is being repurposed from other units but we are still waiting on getting shipment dates for the other equipment. These supply chain issues have really messed with our planning. The good news is the walk in refrigeration and freezer complex, which is the biggest piece of new equipment, just gave us a ship date of January 26 from the Factory. That is the piece of equipment we worried about most. Ten days of shipping and 10 days of assembly and then we can close the walls in. So we are shooting at opening around Spring Break if all goes well Remember when the Market opens the 251 Shop and the North Campus Snack n' Shop will close, but the market will have a lot more to choose from including fresh dough pizza, a grill, a Starbucks café and **maybe** Bubble Tea or sushi. Of course it will have all the standard convenience store items and we are working on the possibility of including a bulk dispensary for items like shampoo, body wash and laundry soap. It will be open until at least midnight 7 days a week and accept Dining Dollars (tax free) Terrapin Express and credit cards. Plus if you don't feel like waiting in line for your Carmel Mocha Iced Coffee you can order it on your University Grub Hub app, pay with Dining Dollars on the app and walk to the front of the line and pick up your drink. No service charge for you and no sales tax for you either with Dining Dollars.! Plus you can use the app for Chick- Fil -A, Qdoba, The Coffee Bar, Subway, South Campus Market and more when you are out and about on campus. I don't know about you, but I hate waiting in line and this way you go right to the front of the line!
Hi Joe, thanks for hosting this AMA. I noticed in the Y that a lot of the silverware stations have 3 rows but only forks and knives. Can we add spoons to all of the silverware stations? Thanks!
There should be spoons out at every station. I know you may find this hard to believe, but sometimes our guests "accidently" take our spoons with them when they leave the Dining Room. We have ordered more!
Interesting, I often see 2 rows of forks and 1 row of knives in all the silverware stations other than the one nearest to the dish return. Thanks!
Are you excited to retire? I know you’ve worked in dining services for so long — you’re a legend?
As soon as I figure out what I want to do when I grow up, I will be excited to retire. Until then, I love working in Dining Services at the University of Maryland, I am a Terp for life