Chris Wilcox
Staff writer
Winslow Dining Hall and the Thoroughbred Room are slated to undergo several changes during the summer of 2012.
Changes include equipment renovation, new utilities and newly offered services.
Winslow will gain two combination ovens and one cook-and-hold oven. The T-Room will also be gaining a pair of each.
Combination ovens are programmable, standardizing the cooking process. The machines combine the abilities of convection and steam cooking ovens.
Paula Amols, director of Dining Services and Racer Hospitality, said the additions will provide quality fried food in a healthier way and will create less food waste. She said these ovens cook much quicker than the ovens used now. Adding these ovens will require the venue to have gas lines.
The addition of cook-and-hold ovens will allow for venues to produce food overnight.
“These additions will ensure consistency no matter who is working,” she said. “It will really improve the quality and efficiency of service.”
Winslow will also have new coolers put in, at new locations, to provide a better flow of product she said. Product will move more fluently throughout the kitchen, leading to less confusion in the work place.
Amols said the change she is most anxious for is the addition of a Mongolian grill in Winslow Dining Hall. The addition will be in place for the University hosted Governor’s Scholars Program during the summer. It will require a custom made grill and ventilation hood.
Amols said the new utilities coming to Murray State’s dining venues are part of an effort to offer better services and to reduce cost and energy usage.
“The upcoming changes will allow us to expand the programs available at Winslow,” she said.
A much larger renovation is in the planning phase for the summer of 2013. It includes the remodeling of the T-Room, where new walls, floors and lighting will be added.
“Students will definitely see some changes when they return this fall,” she said. “But they will see even more when they come back the fall of 2013.”
Amols said there are plans to sit down with architects over the summer to draw out blueprints for the T-Room, so bids can be set forthe renovations next year.
In addition to new utilities and services, a pilot summer meal plan might become available this summer.
Amols said Dunker’s Deli and Starbooks (in the Curris Center), two of the University’s other dining venues, may also be staying open during the summer as part of a pilot program.
Hailey Buth, junior from Louisville, Ky., said when she heard of the upcoming changes she was excited. She hopes the changes will have as good an impact as the remodeling of Winslow over Christmas break did.
“I think that’s awesome,” she said. “Anything to improve the quality of the food.”
Tim Bruce, department chef manager of Winslow Dining Hall, said the additional equipment and services coming this summer will improve not only the student experience, but also the quality of the product.
He said some of the equipment in Winslow is the original equipment bought when the facility was built in the 1970s. The coolers being purchased are an effort to keep more fresh products in the facility, relying less on canned goods.
“As we get more efficient in the kitchen the guests will see positive changes to the food,” he said. “Our focus will always be the students.”