Effective July 1, NCC will part ways with its long-term partner, Chartwells, and begin working with Parkhurst Dining Services. According to Student Affairs, this decision was made by a “thorough selection process including current students.”
Parkhurst’s website describes themselves as, “a leading contract food service provider in the mid-Atlantic region.” They “fuel the success and innovation of our partners in colleges, universities, and corporations with made-from-scratch food and genuine hospitality.“
In addition to that, Parkhurst prides itself on its belief in “creating authentic culinary experiences.”
Administration gave further information on the dining switch at the Student Organization Leadership meeting. Students were learning that they should anticipate freshly-made food from expert chefs. A goal that NCC hopes to achieve with this partnership is to improve its allergen-free dining options. They also aim to increase the visual appeal of the freshly-served food.
The dining hall opening and closing times remain unknown. Although it seems likely that they will stay the same, the possibility of extending hours is in discussion. These new hours would also apply to the Cage and The Boilerhouse Cafe. However, with Parkhurst taking over, the Cage and The Boilerhouse Cafe may be switched out for other restaurant facilities. They would remain dining areas, but with potentially new branding and foods.
Student opinions
As the main patrons of the dining halls, on-campus students will be the ones most impacted by the new partnership. NCC student-athlete, Dominick Gramarrosso, ’25, looks forward to this change for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.
“I’m hoping that the new cage restaurants will have quality options that we can use our swipes at. I would love for the new Kaufman plan to still include some of the exciting events that they started after the first development earlier this year,” said Gramarrosso.
NCC student, Olivia Rosenberg ’25, shares a similar outlook to Gramarrosso,
“I’m excited about the new dining switch, because I’m hoping to see a lot more options for students, so we can have a wider selection of meal choices,” said Rosenberg.
In order to start acclimating students to this switch, NCC will invite Parkhurst team members to campus as the semester wraps up. Alongside this, pop-up stations will show up around campus. The idea is to give students samples of the food they will eat this upcoming fall semester and in future years.
