“They want change, they want variety, they want quality, they want healthy, but they also want convenience sprinkled into it.”

That’s how Mike Staples, Director of Dining at Virginia Tech, described what today’s students expect from campus dining in our latest Thought Leaders in Foodservice conversation with Sojo Alex.

Virginia Tech is a self-operated program serving roughly 32,000 undergraduates, with about 10,500 living on campus and another 4,000 to 5,000 on off-campus or commuter meal plans, all spread across nine dining facilities and 47 venues.

To meet the demand for convenience without sacrificing quality, Virginia Tech has leaned into Grubhub ordering and in-dining-hall kiosks, giving students who aren’t comfortable ordering at the register another way to grab a meal on their schedule. The program is also expanding, with a second all-you-care-to-eat facility opening next year and new meal plans launching this fall.