Their success springs, too, from having the resources to introduce new programs and ideas, such as Morrison Management's Spice of Life concept for the health care market. And university administrators see enhanced dining services as another way to attract quality students. Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., for example, is in year three of an eight-year major overhaul of the serveries at its venerable residence houses, supported by a new central kitchen. The University of Maryland in College Park keeps busy handling requests for retail food outlets at sites as diverse as the library and the physics and engineering departments. In the world of corporate foodservice, employees see good meals as a right as much as a privilege.
Institutional innovation is alive and well, and customers are eating it up.