The National Association of College and University Food Service (NACUFS} has awarded Duke Dining the Grand Prize Award for the Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards in the category of Retail Sales-Multiple Concepts/Marketplace for the Richard H. Brodhead Center for Campus Life.

The award is one of the highest honors in university culinary arts. Duke Dining was awarded a Gold Loyal E. Horton Award in the same category for the Brodhead Center and a Sustainability Gold Award for Procurement Practices earlier this year and received recognition at the NACUFS National Conference where the Grand Prize winners were also announced.

"Its gratifying to see the years of hard work by Duke Dining to provide extraordinary food services to the Duke community acknowledged by their peers," said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. "The Duke community has lauded the wonderful food options in the Brodhead Center and throughout the campus, and the NACUFS recognition is the (healthy) icing on the cake."

The Brodhead Center opened in August of 2016 bringing 13 new restaurants offering a selection of global flavors and authentic menus by way of custom, specialized equipment. Each restaurant features an independent look and feel for each venue providing an open-air, streetscape appearance throughout the building. The program has welcomed guest chefs in the state-of-the-art teaching kitchen including Mario Batali at the grand opening event.

Robert Coffey, executive director for Duke Dining, said Duke Dining is honored to receive the different honors. "We appreciate NACUFS and our industry colleagues across the nation recognizing Duke Dining for the transformative work accomplished,” Coffey said. “Duke Dining is proud to be part of NACUFS, which for almost 60 years has delivered value and elevated our profession and we are grateful for NACUFS leadership in the areas of benchmarking, best practices, continuing education and networking.”