Gelfebien Grab & Go window will reopen on Saturday, Jan 16th for the Spring semester with continuous service. For Spring, specialty dinner bars, Friday through Sunday, have been added to the menu.
Monday – Friday
Saturday & Sunday
Make sure to pick up a copy of the Spring semester UCuisine in your dining hall. UCuisine is your guide to all things dining at UConn. To be more sustainable we are printing fewer copies so if one is not available in the dining hall, please refer to our digital version below.
https://issuu.com/uconndining/docs/uconndds_ucuisine_spring2021
For the Spring semester, the Food for Thought Food Truck will be located Whitney Dining Hall offering an expanded menu, including daily specials, and accepting meal plan swipes.
Hours: Monday-Friday; 11am-6pm (weather permitting); open January 19th-April 9th
Points, cash, Husky Bucks, and credit/debit cards will also be accepted.
More details and menu at https://dining.uconn.edu/foodforthought/
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,’ said Piglet at last, ‘what’s the first thing you say to yourself?’ ‘What’s for breakfast?’ said Pooh. ‘What do you say, Piglet?’ ‘I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?’ said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. ‘It’s the same thing,’ he said.”
– A. A. Milne, ‘The House at Pooh Corner’
Greetings:
As I write this semester’s introduction to UCuisine I would like to reflect on this past year. For many of us 2020 has been a year full of challenges and hurdles. If you feel like I do, you are looking forward to a time where we celebrate meals together as a community and where we once again join together as we interact with each other in our daily lives on campus. While this semester has been a challenge we could not have made it happen without our foodservice employees who I would like to honor and recognize. These are the employees, that for those students who resided on campus, have been there to make it all happen. Their hard work and dedication matter. We are fortunate to have them all as part of our team. No one individual can prepare all of the meals served in our residential, retail, and catering departments. No one individual can bake the thousands of chocolate chip cookies that literally float out of our bakery on East Campus. It is our committed employees that start work late in the evening preparing muffins, breads, and a cornucopia of desserts. These are the morning crew who are grilling eggs when you are hitting the snooze alarm for the third time. These are the employees, who behind their masks are smiling as they greet you when you purchase your coffee in the morning. These are the full-time employees and student employees who together are a great team of dedicated employees. As mentioned in the quote above by A.A. Milne, these are the individuals who perform the tasks that are there for you, our customers, so that we can have the opportunity to make your day “exciting”.
This year has brought an incredible transformation for Dining as we shifted our services to meet COVID-19 requirements. When campus shut down in March, when some students quickly transitioned to remote learning while others continue to reside on campus, Dining quickly adjusted to a takeout service model much like the grab and go system that was in place prior to COVID-19. We continued to offer our traditional menus that students have come to expect. This spring we are ready and prepared to provide service at South, McMahon, Putnam, Northwest, and Gelfenbien for traditional dining and also have North and Buckley open for those students that have been assigned to a quarantine period. This spring, in order to meet the needs of those students living in East Campus we will be repurposing our mobile food truck, “Food for Thought”, and will be positioning it in the rear of Whitney so students will have access to meals Monday through Friday, lunch, and dinner. Hours and additional information for this service can be obtained from our website.
If you are new to campus or a returning student please remember communication is important to us. If we are not aware of how we are not meeting your expectations it is difficult for us to provide the dining options that you require. Speak up and let us know. When you are in a dining unit bring your concerns to us immediately, not days later. If you have suggestions we are eager to receive feedback through our website. Each semester we meet with representatives from the Resident Area Association Councils and USG Advisory Committee to listen to their concerns and requests. In addition, our dining surveys demonstrate that we are achieving our goals but as my predecessor always said, “you are only as good as your last meal served”, so feel free to contact us and share with us your thoughts.
Lastly, to keep in touch with Dining and the services we offer, please utilize UCuisine. If one is not available, because we will be printing fewer copies than usual to save on paper, you can find all of our information on our website www.dining.uconn.edu. Your dining experience has to be a memorable one while
at UConn or we have failed to meet your expectations.
Eat well, enjoy life, and pursue your dreams,
C. Dennis Pierce
Executive Director of Dining Services
Spring Semester
Updates & Important Reminders
Stay informed throughout the semester and review our updates and COVID FAQs here.
Flex Passes
Flex Passes will be taken in all of our open cafes, with the exception of Market Cafe – located in the Student Union. The meal equivalency of a Flex Pass is $7.00. When you are at that cafe, multiple, separate Flex Passes can be used. If you choose to only use one Flex Pass and your order is over $7.00 you will need to pay the balance with cash, credit/debit card, Husky Bucks or points. There is no limit on the number of times you use a Flex Pass during the day. SWIPING IN GUESTS: Please note that during COVID-19 swiping in guests to the dining hall with your Flex Passes is limited to UConn students (that have been tested for COVID-19). You are not able to swipe in another UConn student during campus-wide quarantine periods or at any point in a quarantine-only dining unit.
Points
Points can be used during all hours of operation at our retail locations: Union Street Market Food Court outlets, Market Cafe, Mango, The Beanery Cafe, Up & Atom Cafe, Bookworms, Dairy Bar Too, One Plate, Two Plates, Earth, Wok & Fire, and the Food for Thought Food Truck. Points may also be used to purchase guest meals in the dining units.
Just Ask
If you have a dietary request –“Just Ask”
If you are looking for a particular item, and don’t see it-“Just Ask”
If you are vegan or vegetarian and are looking for a different menu option –“Just Ask”
If you are looking for a slight modification to a menu item, “Just Ask: if it is possible, we will do our best to accommodate your request.
If there is anything else, “Just Ask” for a manager and we will be happy to assist.
Let Catering do the cooking for your weeknight or holiday meals!
New items have been added to the store
https://bit.ly/CateringCurbside
Hot Hors d’oeuvres
Scallop Wrapped Bacon with Maple Pepper Glaze
Petite Beef Wellington
Chicken & Asiago Cheese Blossoms
Hot Hors d’oeuvres assortment tray
Jumbo Buffalo Chicken Wings
Baked Sliced Honey Ham Complete Meal for 6
Chocolate-Dipped Peppermint Brownie Bars
Assorted Chocolate Truffles
Four-Cheese Macaroni & Cheese
Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese
Place your order today! 72 hours notice required; pick up 7 days a week
McMahon Dining Hall will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26th so that our staff can enjoy the holiday with their families.
On Wednesday evening (11/25/20), McMahon will have stations for those on the winter meal plan to pick up breakfast, lunch, and a complete Thanksgiving dinner to have for Thursday.
McMahon will reopen on Friday, November 27th, normal operating hours.
TAKE OUT ONLY
Regular Winter Break Students
Quarantine Students (Nov 22-Dec 5)
Eric Merkle, bakery manager in the department of dining services, spoke about the Thanksgiving bake sale held by the University of Connecticut in preparation for the upcoming holiday.
Merkle said they held the sale through a completely online format. In particular, he said they used the dining marketplace on their official website.
“We did the bake sale 100% online this year through the dining marketplace on our dining.uconn.edu page,” Merkle said.
Merkle said the results of the bake sale were surprising to him as they were better than he expected them to be. He believes this is due to the fact that people are becoming more comfortable with buying food online.
Read the full article from The Daily Campus here.
With Fall semester meal plans ending after dinner on Saturday, November 21st, please review the link below for our hours of operation at McMahon and retail locations through the end of January 2021.
https://dining.uconn.edu/hours/
Spring semester meal plans are slated to begin on January 15th, 2021.
All dining halls (North, Northwest, South, McMahon, Buckley, Putnam) will be open to all students, except those that have been placed in medical isolation, and have converted to take-out only as of 5 p.m. on Friday, November 13.
Students can continue to access Gelfenbien take-out window and retail* locations. All locations, dining halls and retail, will maintain normal operating hours. Flex passes and points can still be used. Flex passes can be used to swipe in off-campus students.
Fall semester meal plans will end after dinner on Saturday, November 21st.
*Mango, Up & Atom Cafe, Bookworms Cafe, and Dairy Bar Too will be closed and reopening on February 1, 2021.