Caltech Has Formula for Gold-Medal Dining

PASADENA, Calif.-Remember when awful college dining-hall food was a rite of passage? Well, the students at the California Institute of Technology are being spared that fate, and the staff who run the Caltech dining halls have now earned several national awards to prove it. Caltech Dining Services has won three gold medals from the National Association of Colleges and University Food Services (NACUFS) in the annual Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards competition. Caltech took home the gold in three of the categories it entered: Catering, Standard Menu; Retail Sales-Multiple Concepts, for Chandler Dining Hall; and Retail Sales-Single Stand-Alone Concept, for Citrus Bistro. Caltech's Broad Café also received an honorable mention in the latter category.

According to event organizers, 170 American universities entered this year's contest of campus comestibles.

Caltech has consistently placed among the top award winners in this competition, winning close to 30 awards over the past seven years. This is the fifth year that Caltech has won a gold medal or the overall grand prize award.

For Caltech's manager of catering, Jaime Reyes, this marks his fifth gold medal in the Catering, Standard Menu category. Reyes says, "Caltech Dining Services prides itself on bringing the best possible service and an excellent dining experience to the Caltech and JPL community. We are honored to be a gold-medal recipient of the Loyal E. Horton Dining Award again this year."

Tom Mannion especially exemplifies Caltech's alimentary enhancement of elite science education. Not only is Mannion assistant vice president for campus life, but he is also a keen gourmet chef who often organizes cooking competitions on campus. "I think prospective students already know about Caltech's top-notch science education," says Mannion. "What they may be concerned about is whether they'll be able to survive dorm food long enough to launch their science careers. I think the NACUFS awards should dispel any fears."

A complete listing of winners, judging criteria, and other information is available at http://www.nacufs.org.

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Contact: Portia Wood (626) 395-3227 Pmw@caltech.edu