Dining Services/Bon Appetit Plans for Fall 2020

Dear friends,

We wanted to share some updates with you regarding how Dining Services will operate as we return to in-person instruction this August.

To help prepare for our return to in-person instruction this fall semester, Bon Appétit Management Company, our campus food service provider, will be implementing a rigorous array of service and sanitation measures designed to help ensure our students and employees can dine safely and comfortably.

Additionally, as you may know, Andrews University’s plans are to limit visits by guests to our campus as guided by the University’s risk mitigation plans, which will remain in place until the State of Michigan MI Safe Start plan formally returns the state to Level 6, or “post-pandemic” conditions. As a result, Dining Services will not be able to host guests until the State of Michigan formally returns the state to a level of open, pre-pandemic conditions.

However, during this time, our Dining Services (both the Terrace Cafe and the Gazebo) will continue to be available for all Andrews University students and employees, as well as immediate family members who currently live in a student or employee household. Also, this fall semester, students, faculty and staff will also be permitted to purchase additional take-out meals.

I’d like to share some of the specific new health and safety measures and requirements that have been developed for our Dining Services operations based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the State of Michigan, the Berrien County Health Department, as well as health and sanitation experts from Bon Appétit Management Company’s Coronavirus Response Team.

These health and safety measures that will be followed for all daily operations, as well as for any catering events, will include, but are not limited to:

• All staff will undergo COVID-19-specific training that has been designed by sanitation experts. That training will be updated regularly as new issues emerge. Topics to be covered will include proper disinfection, the correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE), physical distancing protocols and more, and will be integrated with existing food safety and sanitation protocols. Team members will wear “I’m Trained” buttons to let our students and employees know that those Dining Services team members are up-to-date on all safety measures.
• There will be daily pre-shift wellness screenings for Dining Services employees in compliance with local regulations, which include no-contact temperature scans and daily interview questions for each staff member.
• Our Dining Services team will use decision trees and step-by-step action plans for any unit managers who have employees who are sick or who may have been in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19.
• Our Dining Services teams will wear masks and gloves at all times, and will prepare and serve food in as contactless a way as is possible.
• We’ll also rely on amped-up cleaning and sanitation schedules, with clearly detailed procedures that consistently meet or exceed all local guidelines and national best practices. This will include frequently disinfecting all high-touch surfaces.
• You’ll find no-touch sanitation stations at all entrances.
• Face coverings will be required in all areas of the Campus Center, the Gazebo and the Terrace Cafe, the receiving or pickup areas, while you’re waiting in line and moving into the servery, until you are seated and physically distanced from other diners, and also once again when you are exiting the facility.
• We’ll seek to ensure a physically distanced environment with wayfinding signs, expanded meal hours to reduce wait times, limited indoor dining room capacity with table shields and outdoor dining options when feasible.
• We’ll also use additional protective tools such as Plexiglas barriers at cashier stations and in front of café stations in the servery area.
• As we shift from self-service to full-service/associate-served processes, self-serve breakfast, salad and deli bar choices will be replaced with freshly made, prepackaged to-go options, including your favorite (associate-served) pizza and desserts. Disposable serveware will be used that will comply with recommended health and safety practices.
• In our Terrace Café, we have moved our tables to create more physical distance in dining areas, including Plexiglas dividers for physically distanced seating.
• The Gazebo will now feature contactless ordering and payment via GET Food app (iOS and Android).
• Residence Hall students are encouraged to use their meal plan for eating in the Terrace Cafe and the Gazebo from Sunday, August 16, through November 24. Our fall 2020–21 meal plan per semester is $1,850 and does not reflect an increase from 2019–20 rates. Residents who leave campus on November 24 for the remainder of fall semester and who have up to $100 remaining on their meal plan will be eligible to receive up to $100 credited back to their student account.
• The limited number of residents who will remain in the residence halls until the semester ends on December 10 will be able to use any remaining balance on their meal plan up to December 14 or add additional credit to their meal plan, if it’s needed.    

For further questions related to food allergies and food preparation, please review Bon Appetit’s Food Allergens page. You can also contact Dining Services with any additional questions at ds@andrews.edu.

As we prepare for fall semester, these general plans for Dining Services operations may and will be adjusted as safety guidelines evolve toward normal operations in a Step 6, “Post Pandemic” status for the State of Michigan in its MI Safe Start plan.

Please continue to consult our Dining Services website for additional information as we prepare for this new school year.

We look forward to having you back on campus this August, and our prayers join with yours as we prepare for the new school year.

With care,

Frances Faehner
Vice President
Campus & Student Life

Linda Brinegar
General Manager
Dining Services/Bon Appétit