CDTSummer2022 - 19

How the University of Rochester Adapted
During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Bryan Carey
Director of Operations
Residential Dining
University of Rochester
Photo by
J. Adam Fenster,
University of Rochester
in 2022, University of Rochester dining Services
returned to some form of normalcy-with the
return to fully in-person dining, service ware in
residential locations, catered events, and in-person
university-wide events and programming. Covid-19
case numbers have fluctuated, but all in all this
has allowed dining to continue to push our awardwinning
program throughout campus locations.
However, like so many of our peers and colleagues
within our nACUFS network, in March of 2020, daily
operations as we had known them were placed on
pause, indefinitely.
in dining, our senior leadership team met early on
to discuss likely changes to our operations, staffing,
and approach to the pandemic that was beginning
to surge throughout other parts of the nation. our
first challenge was determining the best way to
keep our team members, guests, and visitors safe
on campus while serving the university community.
Being affiliated with a large medical center, our
team could connect with colleagues from Strong
Memorial Hospital to obtain adequate masks and
other personal protective equipment (PPE) we
could distribute to our team members and guests
during the first wave. in
addition, we established
a task force of leaders
to set up a supply chain
for PPE, specialty cleaning
supplies, hand sanitizer stations,
and social distancing and masking
signage for our locations. teams in
our residential locations, douglass
and danforth dining, worked swiftly
to reduce seating capacities in their
locations and store seating outside.
After safety measures were in place,
our team needed to meet to discuss
operations moving forward. Many
members of our management team
and frontline associates recall being
extremely concerned about the future
of our program, campus dining in
StAYing FLEXiBLE And HAving FUn | CAMPUS DINING TODAY
19
CDTSummer2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CDTSummer2022
