"These old buildings hold a lot of surprises," Condenzio says. But he says knowing so much renovation had gone into those structures in recent years gave HUDS some security that there would be fewer problems when it looked to again renovate, this time in the kitchens.

With the basic goal in place, Condenzio says HUDS began bringing people together to start brainstorming about the specifics of the renovation.

The ideas came from staffers in HUDS' retail shops--as in Loker Commons--and Crimson Cash operations, as well as dining hall managers from various other Houses, purchasing managers for the College's food service system and HUDS Executive Chef Michael Miller.

The list of ideas that came out of the meeting, according to McNitt, was well over 100 pages long.

"There was a great deal of faith in our ability to do this," she says.

Their goal, McNitt says, was to allow dining services to be flexible and adapt to new trends in food service or changing student needs.

Cooking large batches of identical meals at each of the Houses, they realized, was a thing of the past. Not only was it inefficient, but it also led to meals that often looked less fresh in their displays than they really are.

As a result, the group decided that it would be better to have chefs prepare small batches of menu items in front of students in the kitchen so that the food would look and taste fresher.