In an effort to bring more choices and better quality to Trinity University’s Mabee Dining Hall, students are seeing new menu items, like breakfast charcuterie boards, fresh-made pasta, better pizza, and gourmet popcorn between meals. “We’re really transforming dining,” says Brittany Thompson, executive director of hospitality and auxiliary services.
While faculty, staff, and visitors are always welcome at Mabee, recent changes were mostly made with students in mind, who are increasingly dining there, says Chase Taylor, resident district manager of Chartwells, the company that provides dining at Trinity. So the university wanted to increase the value of coming to the dining hall and provide more options throughout the day–not just at meal times.
“The idea is that you can come down here, swipe your card and have some snacks while you study,” Taylor said.
What’s on the menu? From 3 to 6 p.m. the Blends and Bowls station swaps out acai combos for a rotating selection of curated popcorn flavors. Current options include “Trinity S’mores Pop” (think mix-ins like marshmallows, chocolate drizzle, and cocoa nibs) and “Lonestar Barbecue Pop” (kernels sprinkled with Korean barbecue seasoning and mixed with Goldfish crackers, pretzel pieces, and dried chives). There are also slushies with flavors like mangonada and cherry-lime.
An upgrade that’s already been so popular they’ve run out on some days has been fresh pasta. Taylor purchased a pasta extruder to hand-cut shapes like rigatoni and ziti that chefs toss with sauces. The pasta is available every day, mixed with chef-curated sauces and ingredients, and served by the bowlful.
A pizza press is on order as well to transform the previous frozen dough situation to a fresher pizza with a thin, crispy crust. On Tuesday nights, the dessert station will look more upscale with specialty treats like UFO conchas (a concha stuffed with ice cream), an ice cream sundae bar, a cannoli station, etc.
The smoke station has added six in-house barbecue sauces and the salad bar received a handful of new toppings, including marinated mushrooms, peas, feta cheese, and banana peppers so that students can build the quality of meal they might get at off-campus establishments. And sandwich wraps that were popular at Coates Student Center last year will now be available at Mabee every day.
Taylor says they’re hoping to get more students into Mabee for breakfast–500 or fewer students eat that meal in the dining hall as compared with 900 for lunch and up to 1,100 for dinner. So they’ve added breakfast boards every Friday for a quick charcuterie-style option students can grab on their way to class.
On upper campus, by popular demand, Coates Student Center will now offer popular outside vendors Chick-Fil-A every Friday and Ming’s Monday through Thursday. All of the changes, to include some beefed up options for football games, aim to let students know that Trinity cares about their food experience.
“We hear you,” Thompson says. “I hope our students see an improvement in the quality of the food.”