If administrators meet their goal, MSU’s food service system will win the Ivy Award — distinguishing it as the best food service provider in the country — within five years, said Vennie Gore, assistant vice president for residential and hospitality services.

The Division of Residential and Hospitality Services received the Board of Trustees’ authorization Sept. 12 to cook up the projects that will revolutionize on-campus dining.

The goal

Expected to cost roughly $41 million, changes made over the next 10 years will include face-lifts and renovations to the facilities, Gore said. These will create a contemporary look and feel, while quality and flavorful food will establish a high level of culinary excellence.

“There’s something about seeing pizza come straight out of the oven and sliced in front of you, or food sauteed in front of you,” said Bruce Haskell, associate director of the Department of Residential Dining.

Gore said the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services credits the 43 percent increase in students who purchased off-campus meal plans this year to the model implemented in The Gallery in Snyder-Phillips Hall. The number jumped from 904 meal plans in the 2008-09 school year to 1,296 this year.

“Eventually, we would like to have all (students),” Gore said. “If we can get to 50 percent — if we can get to 15,000 — we would be ecstatic.”

Public relations junior Sam Le, who lived in Snyder-Phillips Hall last year, said she liked The Gallery’s setup and “loved” eating in the renovated cafeteria.

“It felt like a restaurant,” she said. “It almost made you forget you were eating in a college cafeteria.”

The best and freshest ingredients will be used and food will be served as customers come in, rather than prepared ahead of the time, Kwiatkowski said. A spiced-up menu full of more flavorful dishes will attempt to compete with local restaurants, he said.

“Our guests go out to eat more frequently, and whenever they go, we know if we make a burrito, they’re going to compare it to Chipotle, Qdoba,” he said. “I’m not saying we’re going to make a burrito as big as your head, but we need to make sure we’re making good quality products all the way through.”

The model

Reinventing dining at MSU began in 2007 with the introduction of the renovated Gallery in Snyder-Phillips Hall, Gore said. The cafeteria now is a hot spot on campus, serving about 5,400 meals per day and accounting for about 20 to 25 percent of meals provided in all residence halls, he said.

The Gallery offers guests different food stations in an aesthetically pleasing environment, a model that will be emulated across campus, Haskell said.

“We took a facility that was very old, very inefficient, with four dining rooms, demolished the old kitchen and built what we have today,” Haskell said.

Students responded “overwhelmingly” positively to the changes at The Gallery, and Brody will provide similar services when it is completed next year, he said. Similar to the Gallery’s restaurant-style dining, Brody’s Marketplace will offer guests nine venues — ranging from vegan and vegetarian options to dessert and comfort foods, Haskell said.

The student cost

Transforming MSU’s cafeterias into world-class facilities won’t come without a cost.

Room and board increases of up to 1.25 percent per year will help pay for the overhaul, Gore said. Additional funding will come from bonds, which are expected to be paid back within the next 30 years using revenue from dining operations, Gore said.

Haskell said the changes will be implemented at the lowest cost possible and room and board increases will be planned with all expenses and commitments taken into account.

“The university has a commitment to being a residential campus,” Haskell said. “If we’re going to be residential campus, we need to have a commitment to taking care of our residents.”

Prices for university food products are competitive, Gore said, with combination meals offered for about $5.25 at Serrano’s and 14-inch pizzas for less than $5 in the MSU Union.

Student opinions of the plan’s projected cost increases differed; some students, such as psychology senior Gabrielle Geiger, said they would prefer the food services and room and board costs to stay the same.

“Especially now, the way the economy is, I don’t think anybody is too excited about any increases in cost,” Geiger said.

But Evan VanBuhler, a marketing freshman, said the extra cost would be worth the increase in quality. VanBuhler, who lives in Brody and said eating in the basement during renovation is “not too exciting,” said he’d be willing to foot the extra cost.

“In the end, it’s already outrageously expensive enough,” he said. “Another 1.25 percent is not going to kill me.”

Gore said the goal is to make on-campus dining appeal to everyone — a place students want to visit after moving off campus, or bring their parents to eat.

“When at some point the weather’s really bad and you don’t want to walk to Grand River, you think, ‘Well, I can stay here, because the food’s great.’”