Dining Services theme dinner named best in the nation

Virginia Tech Dining Services has been named by the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) the 2007 grand prize winner for best theme dinner in the United States in the 34th annual Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards Contest.

The award was presented at the association’s 49th National Conference in Seattle July 14 in recognition of “Captain Growley’s Pirate Adventure,” which was held in September 2006.

Open to all institutional members of NACUFS, the Horton Award contest is a highly competitive and prestigious peer recognition program. It was designed to recognize exemplary menus, presentations, special event planning, and new dining concepts, and to provide an avenue for sharing ideas and creative presentations in collegiate dining services.

Virginia Tech was one of three schools to be awarded a gold medal in the theme dinner category and was selected from those as the grand prize winner. Other gold medal winners were the California Institute of Technology and the University of North Dakota. Virginia Tech also received the silver medal in the theme dinner category with a “Southern Nights” dinner, also held in September.

“It is an honor to be recognized by our peers for presenting the best theme dinner in the United States and Canada,” said Rick Johnson, director of housing and dining services. “It involved a huge team effort from all of our dining managers, chefs, and staff members along with the marketing team to develop and pull off this extravagant event.”

The event was held on International Talk Like a Pirate Day in Shultz Dining Center. Named for original mess steward J.H. “Growley” Shultz, the dinner showcased a ship-shaped buffet, a slideshow of pirate jokes and trivia, huge scene-setting backdrops, and Cap’n Jack Sparrow himself from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, impersonated by a local actor.

The menu featured foods such as golden-fried conch fritters, steamed crab legs, a pit-roasted pig, salmagundi, and plenty of bags of traditional pirate booty. Outside on the lawn, students played interactive games such as Walk the Plank and Douse the Pirate. The enthusiasm was electric and students showed up in droves––many even dressed up for the occasion.

Goals to attract new customers and draw more than 1,000 students to the dining center––which has a typical dinner volume of around 350––were readily accomplished. A crowd of 1,020 students flooded Shultz Dining Center, which averaged 12 to 13 percent more customers per night that semester than in previous years.

Dining Services holds numerous themed events in the campus dining centers throughout the year.

The 2007-2008 Dining Services special events calendar may be found online.