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Save room for dessert
Dining Services makeover features new look, new menus

By Hope Green

Missed a Sox home game? Take comfort: you can still have the peanuts and Cracker Jacks at your next conference.

BU Dining Services’ catering division has restructured under a new moniker: Catering on the Charles. It’s offering updated menus for full-course dinners as well as whimsical coffee breaks for a crowd, such as the above-mentioned Fenway Fever snack package. (Jumbo pretzels and mustard included.)

	Chuck Maleakas is the new manager of the Faculty and Staff Dining Room. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

The department recently hired two sales managers and three new catering managers to run events, as well as a new assistant catering director. "We conducted focus groups of some of our most frequent users," says Barbara Boden, director of marketing. "We knew we had to reorganize, and their feedback has helped us move forward."

Meanwhile, changes are also under way at the F! aculty and Staff Dining Room.

Curried events

Catering customers had a chance to sample the new menu and wine list on September 27, when the department held a reception in the 808 Gallery. A new 31-page catering book represents the first menu upgrade for the catering division in eight years, and is part of an identity makeover the department has been working on for several months.

Chicken with boursin cheese and shallot demi-glacé, an Indian-spiced vegetarian stew, and a sacher torte with berry coulis are among the menu items for formal events. Guests at office luncheons and other small gatherings will also see updated cuisine. But more important, Boden says, will be a new grade of service.

"We have always done a very good job on higher-end events," she says, "but where we have needed the most improvement was in drop-off and delivery services for the smaller ones."

Previously, staff would divide their ! time between managing functions and fielding sales calls, making it hard for prospective clients to contact them. The creation of a catering sales department should help relieve communication gaps.

"We’ve already gotten a lot of comments from customers that they are beginning to see an improvement," Boden says. "Our goal is to be better than any caterer in Boston."

Waterfront dining

In the Faculty and Staff Dining Room, which overlooks the Charles River and DeWolfe Boathouse from the fifth floor of the George Sherman Union, Chef Robert Sanders is offering a wider array of vegetarian options and more international selections.

"People are looking for new and interesting foods, not just mashed potatoes and gravy," says Chuck Maleakas, the new manager. Former manager David Stowell accepted a promotion out of state with Aramark, which runs BU’s Dining Services.

Maleakas intends to expand the ! lineup of special events with the addition of an Oktoberfest, more visiting chefs, and reservation-only fine dining twice a year.

Besides menu changes, diners will notice structural improvements such as new carpeting and the addition of a receiving area. New tables and chairs will arrive in November. The renovations, says Maleakas, "will give us more of a restaurant feel, and less of a cafeteria atmosphere. I want faculty and staff to come here and say, wow, this is our own place to have lunch, and it’s really good."

3 October 2000
Boston University
Office of University Relations