What's cooking at UMD? Culinary staff test out their new kitchen
Students at the University of Minnesota-Duluth have some new foods to taste at the Superior Dining Center. After a long-awaited remodel and expansion, and an estimated $25 million, UMD culinary staff finally have a new and improved kitchen. The renovations started back in 2024, and both main kitchen culinary staff and student workers are happy with the changes. Autumn Hecker, is a student cook with Dining Services, and says there’s more elbow room to work.“A lot of the kitchens I’ve worked in have been like, there’s space, but not as much here,” Hecker said. “There’s giant walk-ins everywhere, all the storage for different things is all over. It’s just very open air compared to like other places that I’ve worked. I think it’s really cool.”The expansion also provided UMD culinary staff and dining services staff a wider range of cuisines. As well as introducing new global flavors. Betsy Helgsen, the Director of Dining Services, says new ingredients will be used at across the campus. Whether it’s the dining center, the food court, and different grab-and-go kiosks around campus offering fresh food 24/7.“We’re really trying to anticipate all of our students’ needs,” Helgsen said. “We’re meeting those as best we can, which is fresh, wholesome and really well thought out food. That also addresses allergens or dietary restrictions.”The new main production kitchen also has a better flow of work according to the culinary staff. Whether it’s with baking, food prep., or just having more space at the different stations. Marcos Robles says they have already been cooking up new dishes for students to try this spring semester.“Couple things that I’ve cooked already for this week, I’ve gotten positive reviews. Like feedback is, ‘Oh, we didn’t have this last year,'” Robles said. Now we’re giving them different items that we can cook, and from what I hear they are being received warmly.”The kitchen remodel also addressed the outdated equipment. Some of the appliances were around 50 years old, repairs were happening almost weekly. Now there are smart ovens, rotating bakery racks, and a state-of-the-art blast chiller designed to support large-scale from-scratch cooking.“Before, we were working out of, I think, three ovens. If I remember correctly, two tilt skillets and a steam kettle. Now, I think we got seven steam kettles, two tilt skillets, a bunch of four ovens now,” Robles said. “Our volume I would probably say maybe double of what we were able to do, if not maybe even triple.”UMD’s new kitchen will be able to provide approximately 7,500 meals daily, as well as supporting catering events on campus.
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