By Jarett Wait ’80
The Alumni Kitchen and Dining Committee, chaired by Brian Finneran ’81 and Steve Pirozzi ’80, is forming a strategic committee to develop a much needed plan for modernizing and redesigning the fraternity’s kitchen and dining infrastructure. We are reaching out to alumni who would like to be a part of the committee that will develop a plan to bring us up to date. Those with experience in the hospitality, restaurant, food industry, etc. are needed. If you are interested in joining the committee, please email Brian Finneran or Steve Pirozzi.
Today’s undergraduate brothers require flexible, 24/7 access to the kitchen. We currently have 10 distinct meal periods weekly, Sunday through Thursday. In addition to the daily meals, the kitchen is also fully stocked with ready-to-cook frozen foods, cereals and oatmeal, milk and OJ, breakfast bars, breads, and a deli bar with vegetables, deli meats, and salads. Dining facilities can accommodate 50 to 75 people at one time. Brotherhood dinners, during which the majority of the brotherhood makes time to eat together, occur on Sundays after chapter meetings and on Thursdays.
The kitchen and dining facilities have not been upgraded since the rebuilding of the fraternity after the fire in the early 1990s. Students’ requirements for flexible dining times, modern/clean facilities, and flexibility on healthy menu options are becoming increasingly important when attracting new brothers to the fraternity. Research from Inside Higher Ed suggests that 50% of college students today say that the dining program is an important factor in their decision to join a particular fraternity. Forty percent of college students today avoid consuming at least one type of animal product. Students are looking for menus designed to provide a variety of fresh/balanced options to meet their dietary preference. Two out of three students are regularly exploring new foods.
