Harvard and Potatoes USA Spotlight Menu Innovation at NACUFS

Potatoes USA joined Harvard University Dining Services onstage at the NACUFS (National Association of College & University Food Services) National Conference in New Orleans to showcase how the two organizations collaborated to introduce new potato dishes to Harvard’s campus dining program.

The session, “Harvard Menu R&D – Partnering with Commodity Boards and Corporate Chefs to Supercharge New Recipe Development,” gave college and university foodservice operators a behind-the-scenes look at Harvard’s menu development process and how partnering with commodity organizations, like Potatoes USA, helps accelerate new ideas.

• Why it matters: Harvard Dining is widely recognized as a leader in college and university foodservice. Institutions across higher education and healthcare often look to programs like Harvard for menu inspiration to develop dishes that are nutritious, culturally relevant, and operationally practical.
  • NACUFS is one of the nation’s largest foodservice conferences, attended by both decision makers and frontline operators who influence menu development and purchasing decisions.

As part of the collaboration, Harvard invited Potatoes USA to submit and demonstrate recipe concepts to Harvard’s culinary team and later incorporated into campus dining menus.  Featured recipes included:

• Marinated Greek Chicken Baked Potato
• French Onion Potato Casserole
• Buffalo Chicken Tot Dish
• Creole Potato Lentil Stew
• Mediterranean Potato Vegetable Casserole

Designed for the realities of campus dining, the recipes were easy to execute, scalable for high-volume service, and adaptable across a range of menu applications. Potatoes USA also supported the implementation with staff training videos for Harvard’s staff and a “Potatoes 101” cooking class for students, and participation in their campus Waffle Day event, which featured waffle fries with DIY seasoning bags

• What they’re saying: The partnership generated strong student engagement. According to Harvard Dining, students described the buffalo chicken tots dish as “life-changing” in survey feedback,  and dining leaders expressed enthusiasm for working with Potatoes USA to expand potato offerings on campus.

“Harvard Dining is one of the premier institutions in college and university foodservice. Other schools, and increasingly hospitals and other operators, look to them as a beacon for what’s culturally relevant, nutritious, and sustainable,” said Potatoes USA chef RJ Harvey. “For potatoes to be positioned with abundance on their menus, and to be the dish students responded to most, is significant.”