Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia Food Services has received the grand prize from the National Association of College and University Food Services, or NACUFS, in the Loyal E. Horton Dining Award contest for best residential dining concepts.
Named for a NACUFS founder and past president, the Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards recognize exemplary menus, presentations, special event planning and new dining concepts while providing an avenue for sharing ideas and creative presentations in campus dining services. UGA Food Services was recognized as the grand prize winner during a luncheon at the NACUFS national conference in late July.
The category of residential dining concepts evaluates all-you-care-to-eat facilities and a food service program’s ability to bring creativity, atmosphere, nutritional quality and variety into their menu, presentation, marketing and nutrition and wellness. UGA Food Services has participated in the Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards program for 25 years, receiving a national record of 69 Horton awards since 1987. This is the sixth grand prize award for UGA Food Services in the residential dining concepts category. They previously received the title in 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000 and 2005.
Judging for the Horton awards was divided into two segments. First, colleges and universities across the nation competed in the categories of residential dining concepts, residential dining-special events, retail sales-single concept, retail sales-multiple concepts/marketplace, catering-special event and catering-online menu April 18-21 at the NACUFS office in Okemos, Mich. Competing schools were classified based on institution size and could enter any category. Gold winners in each category then advanced to compete for the grand prize.
The UGA Food Services is the largest college food service program in the Southeast. The department has the distinction of winning 77 national food service awards throughout the years. For more information, see http://foodservice.uga.edu/.