Display Cooking Proves That Seeing is Believing
In the three dining halls at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, David May, assistant vice president of business affairs, operates 12 display cooking stations, with cuisines ranging from pizza to stir fries to a Mongolian grill.

“Our three dining halls have been designed so that all the production, for the most part, is in front of the students,” May says. During the last 10 years, May says, all three facilities have been renovated, and a greater emphasis has been placed on the service style. “I have always felt strongly that you needed to bring the production out to the front of the house so that the students could see the food being produced,” he says. “Back when I was a student in the ‘70s, the food came out from behind a wall or from the basement and there was the old ‘mystery meat’ belief.”

That sentiment has all but been eliminated on the campus today. “If a student can see the grilled cheese sandwich on the grill, or the pizza coming out of the brick oven or the staff individually stir frying a dish,” May says, this eliminates any doubts about the product’s freshness or value.

Students seem to be buying it. “These stations are in our all-you-can-eat resident dining halls and they are very popular, especially the stir fries and the Mongolian grill,” he adds.

Excerpt from FoodService Director Magazine's May 15, 2008 article, "Seeing is Believing.” Reprinted with permission of Ideal Media, LLC.