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In this Higher Ed Careers interview, Jim Meinecke, director of residential dining at The Pennsylvania State University, discusses his career path, the award-winning dining program at Penn State, and innovations in campus dining halls.
Assisting our editorial team this month is our own Jason Bodnar, who is a senior account manager of recruitment at HigherEdJobs, a Penn State alum, and is known around the office as our resident foodie.
Jason Bodnar, HigherEdJobs: Tell us about your career path — you’ve worked in residential dining services at Penn State since 2007. What drew you to this field in higher education, and what do you like most about your job?
Jim Meinecke, Penn State: My wife and I met at Penn State and fell in love with the area. Eat n’ Park is a local restaurant chain based out of the Pittsburgh area, and it was a wonderful company to work with straight out of school. I always had an eye on returning to the university that I loved. Fortunately, a manager position opened in 2007. Whether in a manager or administrative role, the answer and draw have always been the same for me — people. Our students keep me feeling young and always keep me on my toes to ensure we meet current demands. Additionally, I have been blessed to work with wonderful people throughout my 17 years.
Bodnar: I was talking with a co-worker about our college-age kids, and she shared that her son scans his hand (instead of using an ID) for his meal plan. My wife read about food delivery robots on The Ohio State campus. What are other recent key changes and innovations in residential dining services?
Meinecke: Our students are always pushing us to stay on top of current trends — both with food and technology — and, honestly, I love that. We are exploring robotic delivery and hope to bring it to campus within the next year. Some recent changes we have implemented include mobile credentials for our meal plan and residence halls and Mashgin self-checkout in four convenience stores. Additionally, we plan to roll out Byte vending machines soon. These coolers will be an extension of our convenience stores and will provide ambient, cold, and frozen options 24 hours a day, seven days per week. We are also working on a new point-of-sale system over the next seven months to allow for better functionality and user experience at our kiosks and through mobile ordering.
Bodnar: Gluten-free, vegetarian, or vegan diet options weren’t always so popular or even offered as broadly as they are now. Could you talk about the vast array of dishes available on today’s college campuses and why having those options is important?
Meinecke: When I stepped into this role in 2022, I spoke about the need for our menus to be representative. What I mean by that is creating menu options and stations to increase inclusivity and belonging with our guests. Our student body is more diverse than ever, and that trend will continue. We are constantly pushed to expand our offerings and look at different foods because it’s an expectation from our guests. Looking at our portfolio of menu items now, it’s amazing. Our all-you-care-to-eat buffets always have a vegan entree and many other vegetarian offerings for each meal period. We utilize entree cards and an online menu to make it easier to find whether something contains one of the top nine allergens, whether it is vegan or meatless, contains pork or is Halal or gluten-friendly. With 850 students self-disclosing a food allergy to our registered dietitians this year, managing food allergies effectively only grows in importance each year. Additionally, we have added stations in the past three years like Choolaah Indian BBQ, which serves Indian rice bowls and street food; Halal Cart, which serves Middle Eastern rice bowls and pitas; and Market Pollock Asia Kitchen, which serves Asian bowls and bubble tea. Outside of the importance of serving our guests, we think we are an extension of the University’s mission to “educate students from around the world.” Many of our guests could try foods with us for the first time, and that’s awesome.
Bodnar: Sustainability is a big part of dining services on many university campuses. What sustainability efforts are you leading that you’re proud of and that other campuses could replicate?
Meinecke: Especially coming out of the pandemic, there has been a lot of excitement regarding sustainability and increasing our efforts. We are in year two of a three-year project to replace our dishwashing machines. This not only allows us to operate more efficient machines that utilize less power and water, but it will also allow us to become trayless in operations, which has shown positive effects on food waste. Additionally, these machines will allow us to grow our PSreUse program, which promotes reusable containers while limiting single-use takeout containers. In addition to that, we moved away from plastic bags completely this year. We offer paper bags, and we only provide those upon request. We are running some pilots at Warnock Dining Hall, which include only offering reusable takeout containers with no option for single-use containers and utilizing compostable cutlery instead of plastic. We have seen positive feedback for both initiatives and hope to roll them out more broadly soon.
Bodnar: As you know, COVID had a major impact on universities, and dining services took a big hit. There are fewer job postings in this realm now than in the pre-COVID years, though we currently have more than 800 food services positions on HigherEdJobs. What did you learn during those years that helped improve what you and your teams do?
Meinecke: It was a challenging time for all of us, but there were many positive results. First and foremost, our teamwork was incredible during those trying times. Everyone worked to find their way together, and our team was very flexible and gave each other grace. We emerged stronger because many people had to work in different positions and areas for periods of time. While it was challenging in the short term, it increased their knowledge in the long term. Folks are more receptive to change and less scared of the result. Everyone had to change so quickly and frequently that future change now seems less daunting.
Some of the emerging best practices included revisiting how we hire full-time staff. Instead of individual interviews at one of our five locations, we now have a central process for contacting, organizing, and interviewing applicants. This not only allows for time efficiency and a better interviewee experience, but it also allows our team to work more collaboratively on placement. Future goals learned from the pandemic include a better onboarding experience and a more consistent and organized training approach.
Bodnar: First-year students and sophomores who live on campus frequent the on-campus dining options. However, when students live off campus, like in my daughter’s case, they don’t use these dining options as much. How do you keep off-campus students, staff, and faculty interested and engaged with on-campus dining?
Meinecke: While off-campus students may be less engaged in terms of frequency, my experience is that off-campus students are still very aware of on-campus offerings and options. For example, they only buy coffee 1-2 times per week instead of 5-6 times per week, but they are still aware and expect many of the same things we discussed earlier. Part of the answer goes back to having a diverse portfolio of offerings, but meeting the students where they are is also important. We know current students are generally on their phones and prefer to find information and order their food that way. If we can make that a seamless experience by offering a great mobile order solution, that will keep the whole campus community engaged.
Additionally, we offer a variety of pop-up events and special dinners throughout the year. These events create a lot of excitement in our locations, drawing not only students, faculty, and staff but also some members from the local State College community.
Bodnar: Your LinkedIn bio states that you proudly oversee one of the country’s largest self-operated campus dining programs. How does Penn State’s program differ from other institutions by being self-operated?
Meinecke: One of the many benefits of working at a large institution like Penn State is that we have a lot of resources on campus. For example, Housing and Food Services has a central bakery, purchasing, and warehouse. At the university level, having a support infrastructure in place with units like IT, human resources, and marketing (among many others) are all factors that allow us to self-operate as a dining program. As a result, one of the biggest benefits is more autonomy. We truly value student feedback and receive it throughout the year in many ways. If our students approach us looking for new menu items, concepts, or even technology, we are not limited in any way. Running a self-operated dining program allows us to be more responsive to our guests’ needs.
Bodnar: In July, Penn State won the Grand Prize for outreach and education from the National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS). According to the association, these awards recognize members’ innovative ideas and program implementation. What can you share with us about your innovative approach to outreach and education?
Meinecke: As I mentioned earlier, we take our role in the university’s mission of educating students very seriously. Almost all of our pop-up events and special dinners have elements of outreach and education both in-person and through social media on Instagram and TikTok. Our dining team, culinary team, and registered dietitians do a tremendous job of outreach and education throughout the year. We also try to work with internal and external partners. Many of our events feature other on-campus groups like our Student Farm, Berkey Creamery, or Bakery. We won our award through NACUFS by combining many of these elements over a two-day period. We partnered with Simon Majumdar, a well-recognized and talented food personality, author, and broadcaster. We also partnered with the School of Hospitality Management for his keynote speech to kick off the two days. On the second day, Simon hosted two culinary demos showcasing Indian cuisine, which was an active learning opportunity for students and community members. Finally, he finished by emceeing a culinary throwdown event featuring four teams of two university chefs on each team. All four teams needed to utilize five mandatory mystery basket ingredients and could utilize many other pantry ingredients. We then worked with other on-campus partners to simulcast the event through our Redifer Dining Commons. These are just a few examples of ways we keep pushing the limits to hopefully deliver excitement and education to our guests.
Bodnar: As a student at Penn State, I recall walking across campus to get a late-night cheeseburger. Is that still an option for students? What are some favorite foods or unique treats based on the students, staff, and faculty you talk with or survey?
Meinecke: You will be happy to know we still offer late-night burgers and fries in multiple locations, which are still very popular! We also offer other options like Asian bowls that do well later in the evening. Some comfort foods like chicken tenders and fries are favorites, but overall, the most popular items vary. Some items include made-to-order acai bowls from Bowls, Mexican bowls and walking tacos from Fresco, subs and wraps with freshly sliced meats from On a Roll, and falafels and gyros from Halal Cart. We also created a brand-new concept at Waring Dining Commons this past semester called State Chik’n. This location features hand-breaded fried chicken, a signature dipping sauce one of our managing chefs created, and a fresh peach cobbler from our Penn State Bakery. We collaborated with our marketing team to set the space in a fun and energetic way, including bright colors, fun imagery on the walls, and interactive features like allowing our guests to choose the next music selections via their phones. It has become one of our most visited locations in dining.
