COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
THE POKE BUMP AT VANDERBILT
Though the poke restaurant craze may have leveled somewhat in recent years, it remains a tried-and-true attraction for many consumers, including those dining on college campuses—especially now with the high interest in bowl entrees in general. For lunch at Vanderbilt dining halls, poke bowls have proved to hold the broadest appeal. “Bowl entrees are king on this campus and in a lot of places,” Cochrane says, citing diners’ attraction to customizable options. “You’ve got about 20 different things you can put in it.” Poke bowl proteins include ahi, salmon, chicken, and tofu with a selection of flavorful house-made sauces. “We have really good sweet rice, like a sushi rice,” Cochrane specifies. “Again, that’s an example of where that dining hall was seeing a 40% to 50% increase when they served poke, so we’re just doing it every day now.” NASHVILLE HOT ‘SHROOMS And Vandy, situated in the city where Nashville hot was born, naturally features a Nashville hot chicken night in the dinner rotation at their gluten-free dining hall. But they wanted to add a vegan complement. Cochrane and the team participated in a menu-development workshop with the Mushroom Council, whose chef suggested a Nashville hot lion’s mane, capitalizing on that mushroom’s meaty texture. The dish brings around 200 covers—a solid turnout for a vegan option in a specialty dining room. “Now, that’s a gluten-free dining hall, so it has the lowest participation across all of our dining halls anyway,” Cochrane says. “Some people use it for convenience, but everybody isn’t just heading there intuitively.”
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QUARTERLY | Q3
PHOTOS COURTESY OF VANDERBILT AND NATIONAL MUSHROOM COUNCIL
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