Purdue Dining & Culinary wrapped up a successful fall semester that saw the organization serve more than two million meals in locations that included relocated and reimagined operations, and offer enhanced employment and learning opportunities for Purdue students.

Dining & Culinary celebrated the opening of The Burrow, formerly known as the All-American Dining Room, in the basement of Cary Quad. Open on Tuesdays and Thursdays during dinner, the location rotates through a diverse menu and serves as an ideal location for residence hall organizations and student groups to hold small dinner gatherings.

“We’ve had dinners organized by Faculty Fellows and floor dinners held at The Burrow,” says Cara Powell, director of dining, business systems and culinary. “It’s a convenient location that allows for greater connection in small groups than some of the larger dining courts.”

The Burrow also received a fresh repaint in Purdue-branded colors during winter break. The location can be rented out for parties and other gatherings.

The fall semester also saw Pete’s Za relocate from Meredith Hall to Tarkington Hall. In addition to its popular customizable and specialty pizzas, the new location includes an On-The-Go! option featuring salads, sandwiches and wraps.

Pete's Za in its new location in Tarkington Hall.

In addition to benefitting from new dining options in convenient locations, students contributed to the marketing efforts of The Burrow and Pete’s Za – part of Dining & Culinary’s ongoing commitment to co-curricular education. Dining & Culinary’s brand ambassador team created reels, stories and posts to support the opening of each location on Instagram, while student interns in Student Life Marketing created graphics and branding for each location.

An On-The-Go! location in Lawson Computer Science Building continues to grow in popularity. As the premier On-The-Go! location, Lawson serves hot sandwiches, personal pizzas, breakfast sandwiches, wraps, salads, coffee and more. It isn’t uncommon to see a large crowd of students at the Lawson location during lunch.

“Students love it – it’s our most popular On-The-Go!” says Azrielle Nunnally, director of dining operations. “The location is perfect for students who need lunch between classes but might not have time to go to a traditional dining court.”

Dining & Culinary also continues to offer student employment and co-curricular opportunities for Boilermakers to practice communication, leadership, decision-making, problem-solving and teamwork while preparing for successful careers. Student employees received a wage increase beginning in September, a successful initiative that impacted 500 students. Dining & Culinary also added more student manager positions in each dining court.

“Creating more student manager positions allowed us to provide leadership opportunities for more students while also keeping the workload manageable as students balance classwork and other involvement,” Powell says.

Boiler Baskets, a feature that debuted in 2021, continue to be popular among students, staff, parents and alumni. These custom gift baskets come in a variety of themes and price points and can be delivered to a student’s residence hall. Readers can select and send a Boilermaker Basket here.

The more than two million meals served by Dining & Culinary during the fall included:

• 23,755 gallons of milk – enough to fill two standard swimming pools!
• 57,000 pounds of scrambled eggs
• 49,000 pounds of hamburgers
• 145,000 pounds of fries – approximately the weight of two fully-loaded semi-trucks.
• 32,000 pounds of popcorn chicken
• 28,000 pounds of chicken tenders – more than the weight of two Boilermaker specials.

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