When it comes to college dining, students have increasingly healthy and flexible options—a long way from the “cafeteria food” of years past. Many colleges offer modern dining halls in combination with retail chain offerings or campus restaurants, covered under a variety of meal plans to suit both on- and off-campus living.
What does a typical meal plan look like? How are dining halls and retail offerings set up around campus? We asked Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, catering to approximately 2,200 undergraduate students, to enlighten us about the college dining experience using their comprehensive meal plan as an example.
Colleges know how important high-quality food is to the health and success of their students, and many colleges offer a range of food choices, delivered in a number of formats, while also accommodating dietary restrictions. Ranging from all-you-can-eat buffets to using “swipes” or points on preloaded Student ID cards at retail locations housed on campus, dining services make it easy to enjoy a variety of offerings that aim to make students happy.
Rollins College is no exception! Our goal is to have the best campus dining program in the country, and we innovate every semester with innovative concepts that create excitement for our students. Almost all of our offerings are made from scratch and utilize locally sourced foods when possible. We incorporate special calendar celebrations surrounding food and offer a wide variety of ethnic foods and flavor combinations.
Rollins’ dining services offers seven dining locations consisting of one main dining hall and six retail locations. Our main dining hall, The Marketplace, features 13 different food stations so that students have plenty to choose from on a daily basis:
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In addition to The Marketplace, students can dine at any of the following retail locations located throughout campus for their convenience:
Rollins offers a separate allergy-free station for students at The Marketplace. Staff receive special training and the station provides food free from the most common food allergens. Though it is located in the main dining hall, both this space and its kitchen prep area are separated from the other food stations to avoid cross-contamination.
All stations at the Marketplace offer vegetarian and gluten-free options, and there is also an exclusively vegan station. The retail locations cater to many different dietary needs, with dairy-free, nut-free, Kosher, Halal, vegetarian, and vegan to be found on the menus.
All students who live on-campus are required to have a meal plan; there are eight meal plan options for on-campus living and three meal plans for commuters. Those living off-campus who prefer to cook can opt for a more minimal meal plan that still allows them to enjoy the community dining options on campus.
Food is fun, and a great chance for our students to build community, connect, and relax as they share a meal together. Rollins dining works to build an atmosphere to foster this with our weekly traditions.
Our dining services offer a few staple dishes that cannot be missed! Buffalo Chicken Salad Day is one of them. This ”secret” recipe, created by one of our chefs, became so popular that it is now served every Wednesday for lunch. Taco Tuesday is another “must have” dish served every Tuesday for dinner. (Fun fact: 9,000 lbs. of avocado are used every semester to make fresh guacamole!)
Also, once a week at lunchtime, we make fresh pasta in front of students and create a specialty dish for them to try, offering students the opportunity to witness firsthand how their dish is made from scratch. Lastly, we make donuts once a week - hot and fresh - and provide an assortment of toppings so that guests can build their own creation.We average two food celebrations every week, whether to honor national food holidays, cultural holidays, or simply to showcase international cuisines. From Hispanic Heritage Month to National Donut Day, we strive to keep things interesting and offer foods students might not see on a weekly basis.
We are proud of our green initiatives in our campus dining, and partner with the students and staff to make these successful.
Curious about more than the food at Rollins College? Read their profile to get started.
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