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Chartwells Higher Education Wins Two 2022 Best Concept Awards by Food Management Magazine

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 21, 2022Chartwells Higher Education, a recognized leader in contract foodservice management, has won two 2022 Best Concepts Awards from Food Management magazine. In the Best Special Event Concept category, Chartwells’ Joy-Ful campaign was named a 2022 winner for bringing engaging and uplifting moments of joy to hundreds of campuses throughout the 2021-2022 school year. In addition, UofU Dining, Chartwells’ dining team at the University of Utah (UofU), won the Best Station Concept award for its innovation in residential dining.

In July of last year, Chartwells announced Joy-Ful, a year-long campaign aimed at welcoming students back to campus and fostering a sense of community after a year of online schooling and separation. Throughout the year, students across 300+ Chartwells campuses were invited to four signature events with unique celebrations customized for each campus: Festi-Ful, Thank-Ful, Delight-Ful, and Grate-Ful. Each event had different themes that all worked to encourage kindness, philanthropy, and appreciation with a central focus on welcoming students back to campus in a memorable way.

“Following a school year filled with virtual learning and social distancing, we wanted to reconnect students with special events and activities centered around food that would spark community and create impactful memories,” said Lisa McEuen, CEO of Chartwells Higher Education. “We are more than pleased with the success of Joy-Ful and its impact on students over the last year, and we’re honored to accept Food Management’s recognition of not only our work but the work of our individual campus partners as well.”

Chartwells also won Food Management’s Best Station Concept award for “The Game” at the University of Utah. The Game started as a sports grill dining station but evolved into a retail-style restaurant. Adding on-site technological innovations like QR code ordering for made-to-order meals created greater operational efficiencies and a unique experience for an all-you-care-to-eat dining hall.

Since 1998, Food Management’s annual Best Concept Awards program has recognized and celebrated the best practices and most innovative thinking in onsite foodservice. Each year, editors evaluate best-in-class nominations on a variety of factors like creativity, impact, and effectiveness.