Students get greater ability to customize their dining experience

Customer views the menu board in the Cather Dining Center.
Customer views the menu board in the Cather Dining Center.

With the addition of menu boards above the serving areas in the dining centers, students now have greater access to nutritional information. Students now can view information like menu item nutritional or allergen information, as well as whether an item meets certain meal preferences, such as being vegan or vegetarian. This can help students make smarter decisions when it comes to the food they eat.

According to Dave Annis, director of dining services, the menu boards can help take the stress out of what can sometimes be a stressful ordeal for students with certain food allergies.

“We all enjoy a good meal," says Annis. "For most of us the process is simple, go to the line and choose what we want. But for a student with allergies or diet restrictions it is difficult to have that same easy 'experience.' Not knowing what is in the food and whether it is safe for you can make finding a meal stressful. The information boards on the lines are there to take away some of that stress for those folks with special diets and be informative for all our customers.”

This improved access comes from Dining Services' move to NetNutrition® in the fall of 2021. NetNutrition® allows students a more in-depth look at the items being served in all the dining centers. Students can view nutritional information, whether a certain food item contains certain allergens, as well as build out meals and see the nutrition information for the entire meal, rather than just item by item.

More details at: https://dining.unl.edu/daily-menus