Gourmet Dining, LLC – Building Dining Partnerships

Gourmet Dining is the premier food service company serving New Jersey, New York & Pennsylvania. As New Jersey’s largest regional dining service company, Gourmet Dining operates on-site food service management for higher education, employing over 2,500 employees with annual sales of $145 M.

ROOTED IN HIGHER EDUCATION

For over 30 years!

At Gourmet Dining, we believe in providing unique, exemplary dining experiences built on strong partnerships. For over 30 years, our family-owned business has grown to become the leading provider of food management services to the higher education marketplace in New Jersey. Today, we continue to plant our roots in universities and colleges across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania – creating delicious, healthy and sustainable food for students, faculty and administrative staffs. Leveraging the expertise of our parent company, Compass Group, the largest food service management company in the world, we’re able to provide superior dining programs with a personalized, family and local approach.

EST. 1987

History

Gourmet Dining chairman, Alfred Frungillo, founded Gourmet Dining in 1987. Mr. Frungillo began his career in the food service industry when he founded Frungillo Caterers in 1972. Frungillo Caterers continues to operate today and has become the largest off premise catering company in the greater metropolitan area.In 1987, Mr. Frungillo saw that his expertise in the catering field would make a dramatic impact in the food service industry. To do this, he searched for an individual with complementary skills in the wholesale and retail aspects of the food service industry.He was fortunate to make the acquaintance of Ben Aiello. At the time, Mr. Aiello was the Vice President of Aiello Food Manufacturing and the head of its food service division for retail sales.

Gourmet Dining offers exceptional regional support with a creative, customized approach to onsite food service management. We prioritize superior quality and service and capital enhancements as the foundation for a long-term commitment to our clients’ goals and objectives. Our success comes from understanding the campus communities’ needs, enabling us to customize a dining program, instead of implementing a nationally mandated program designed to fit the average client. Gourmet Dining is able to tailor our programs specifically to the needs of our each of our client partners. This approach has created long-term partnerships at each of our 4-year higher education locations where we have a 100% retention rate, since our inception.

Our fundamental operational philosophy, bringing a partnership for growth and development, compels us to provide continual program evolution and recurrent reinvestment. Gourmet Dining’s client relationships are in actual fact cooperative partnership agreements, whereby client and contractor succeed in concert both operationally and financially. In February of 2014, Gourmet aligned with Compass Group supporting our approach to campus dining with the backing of Compass Group, the largest food service provider in the world.

Gourmet Dining is a New Jersey based company and has a great understanding of the contemporary tastes and lifestyles at the campus dining level in this region. From addressing the dietary concerns of vegans, dietary restrictions due to allergies or religious preference, environmental concerns of student activist, budgetary concerns of the student populace, time constraints of the commuter student body, and the overall level of student satisfaction, Gourmet Dining applies its passion and fervor as an industry leader in continually revitalizing and revolutionizing itself, and thus the dining locations which we serve.

TIMELINE

Seton Hall University: 1988 – present
The New Jersey Institute of Technology: 1991 – present
Bloomfield College: 2000 – present
Kean University: 2004 – present
Bergen Community College: 2007 – present
Caldwell University: 2010 – present

Jersey City University: 2011 – present

Rowan University: 2014 – present
Monmouth University: 2015 – present
Stevens Institute of Technology: 2015 – present
Rutgers University – Newark: 2016 – present
Rider University: 2018 – present
Rutgers University – Camden: 2019 – present
Rutgers University – Athletics: 2019 – present

Marywood University: 2022 – present

COMMUNITIES

We believe it’s our responsibility to support the local communities in which we live and work, implementing programs that promote sustainability, support local businesses and help those most in need. We do this by partnering with local and regional farms for fresh seasonal produce, meats, seafood, fair-trade coffees and teas, and much more. Through our partnerships with local restaurants, we broaden student dining options with our meal exchange program, while boosting their customer base. We take extra measures to reduce waste in our dining facilities by recycling packaging and fryer oil, composting leftover scraps and providing reusable to-go containers. We’re also addressing food insecurity in our communities through programs like Meals on Wheels and on campuses through annual donations to student food pantries, emergency meal plan swipes and volunteer-to-pay programs.

FOOD

Our highly-trained culinary chefs and cooks design versatile menus rooted in the unique needs, desires and diversity of our client campuses. Gourmet Dining menus feature classic grilled, deli and salad bar selections, made-from-scratch pizza and pasta, ethnic and global cuisines, as well as quick service food from nationally recognized retails brands. We offer a variety of healthy food choices, including: vegan / vegetarian options, reduced antibiotics, natural beef, SPE-certified, certified humane eggs and rBGH-fee milk. We also offer special diet menus: gluten-free, allergen-friendly, soy-based alternatives, peanut sensitive environments, Kosher options during Jewish holidays, Halal and Jain. All menus include nutrition information and special dietary foods are labeled for easy

PEOPLE

At Gourmet Dining, it’s all about our clients and the students we serve. Our management team collaborates with clients to establish a foundation built on strong relationships, clear expectations and open lines of communication. This approach allows us to create the highest quality, most innovative and custom-designed dining programs for each of our client’s individual needs. Since the company was established in 1987, we have a 100 percent client retention rate. Our chefs and cooks take pride in the food they create and relationships they build with students. We offer a variety of nutrition services and menus designed to educate, inspire and empower students to make healthier choices. Our dedicated registered dietitian-nutritionists (RDN) provide healthy menu planning, counseling services, presentations and seminars. We also engage students in new and innovative ways to enhance their overall dining experience, including: social media outreach, mobile ordering and instant mobile chat with our dining management teams.