How Sodexo Campus Finds the Top Food Trends in College Dining
Jennifer DiFrancesco
Director of Culinary Innovation, Sodexo Campus
Jennifer DiFrancesco
Director of Culinary Innovation, Sodexo Campus
The future of food is all about what students are craving now. Gen Z is hungry for that viral TikTok recipe. That authentic global delicacy. That juicy, plant-based sandwich.
As VP of Offer and Innovation for Sodexo Campus, it’s my job to understand why food is trending with Gen Z and to predict what's next in on-campus dining. This inspires me to create crave-worthy, student-approved innovations that campuses can launch today.
Custom, global, sustainable, and most importantly, delicious — these are key ingredients behind what Gen Z is craving. Here are three of the top food trends on college campuses I’m paying special attention to:
1. Boba Lifestyle
Boba — a.k.a. bubble tea — is one of the fastest-growing Gen Z food trends today. Born in Taiwanese tea shops in the early 1980s, boba is now taking college campuses by storm with its craveable flavors and social media-ready aesthetics.
For those not in the know, boba is a mix of tea, milk, and soft-yet-chewy tapioca pearls, which are also called boba. It’s so popular, students across the U.S. are saying it's not just a drink…it's a way of life. It’s easy to see why boba shops — and pop-ups — have become go-to hubs for students to recharge, study, and meet up with friends.
2. Authenticity
In a world full of endless, mass-produced choices, today’s students are hungry for food that feels real. After extensive research, here’s what we’ve discovered they really want:
3. Plant-Based Foods
66% of students say they want to eat more sustainably on campus. 2 In fact, 36% of today’s students follow a vegan, pescatarian, or flexitarian diet, and more than a third of Gen Zers consume meat alternatives daily. 3,4 Clearly, modern students are ready to make the jump to plant-based options on campus — and they’re already practicing what they preach.
Related: Why Colleges Must Take Meaningful Action to Fight Climate Change
“How do you find the future of food?”
This is a question I hear a lot.
As a culinary innovation expert, I’m fascinated by discovering exactly what students are hungry for. Here are a few key ways I discover the latest college food trends:
Follow the Students
I put aside my love of Michelin-starred chophouses and coq au vin — my favorites, not Gen Z’s — and I go on an adventure. I explore that new Korean taco place. That Brazilian food truck. That Thai boat noodle shop. My goal is to experience the up-and-coming flavors firsthand, then narrow things down to the top tastes and bring them to your campus.
Listen to Campuses
It’s a journey to discover what’s next in campus dining, and a giant step in that journey is listening. I listen to what our operators say about the cuisines students love. I listen to what our clients say about what the next big trend in college dining could be. And of course, I listen to Gen Z. This valuable feedback ensures our innovations aren’t just pleasing students — they’re aligned with the unique needs of each campus.
Gather Data
Whether an innovation was a runaway success, or missed the mark on a particular campus, I want to know about it. Collecting this data helps my team consistently enhance our existing innovations and inspires us to develop strong new offers.
After a pop-up event, for instance, my team collects real-time feedback from students. We ask them what kinds of experiences they want to have, and which pop-up event they want us to bring to their campus next. Going straight to the source — students — helps us make sure every pop-up we organize is a hit.
Related: The Quad Squad: Real-Time Insights From College Students
Campus innovations bring the future of food to campus…today. They also build community through everyday engagement opportunities that resonate with students and create a sense of belonging. These innovations are created to keep things simple for our operators so our clients can see immediate results. They’re fun, easy, and most importantly, students love them.
Here are three of our (many) new innovations that you can bring to your campus:
1. Pop-Up: Boba Blast Floats
When we organized a boba pop-up event last fall, it was no surprise the students loved every sip. Across the U.S., campuses told us they sold out in record time, and that students (along with faculty and staff) were lining up for seconds.
This spring, boba is back by wildly popular demand…with a delicious twist.
Our boba teas are now floats! We’re taking it to the next level by adding ice cream to our drinks made with sweet, chewy boba pearls and mouth-watering flavors like Thai, taro, and matcha milk tea.
2. Food Hall: Foodiverse
Gen Z’s burning need for unapologetically authentic experiences and real food is what inspired us to create Foodiverse. It's an immersive food hall experience that will satisfy students who want to eat well. It features our very best culinary creations, each one chef-crafted and customized for every student, at every stall.
“Custom” really is the name of the game for Gen Z, and that’s why it’s at the core of the Foodiverse ethos. It deviates from typical industry design, and instead uses iconic focal points and interactivity to become the food epicenter on campus. It offers something for everyone: community seating and solo spaces; quick pickup service and an interactive demo kitchen; authentic global cuisine and familiar favorites.
3. Micro-Conference Series: Brain Food Sessions
Brain Food is a series of interactive micro-conferences backed by expert research (and delicious food). Presented in a lunch-and-learn format, they’re designed to stimulate fruitful discussion between campuses and Sodexo operators. The goal of each collaborative session is to empower campuses to better support students and accomplish institutional objectives.
“This conversation was made for us,” Liberty University told me after a recent successful Brain Food session. I visited the campus this February to host Advocating Student Retention and Belonging on Campus. Together, we dug into insights from the latest Student Lifestyle Survey, sparking a lively conversation on how to foster a sense of belonging on campus, grow student resilience, and build a culture of allyship in which all students can thrive.
Our most recent release — Creating Community Through People, Planet + Palate — is all about sustainability. It’s no secret that students are ready to rock ’n’ roll when it comes to sustainable eating. However, we understand that shifting to carbon-conscious eating as an institution can present unique challenges for every campus. Through this open, evidence-based conversation, campuses are able to communicate their needs, act on their values, and design a more sustainable future.
It takes time to get dining concepts just right for each campus we serve — time well spent on research, testing, and (of course) tasting. That’s where Sodexo’s culinary innovations come in. They’re on-trend, delicious, and available for campuses to offer today. And best of all? Students want them right now.
Ready to bring the future of food to your campus? Contact us.
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References: 1. On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future: What We Know About Gen Z So Far, PEW Research Center. pewresearch.org. 2020. 2. Sustainable Food Barometer, Sodexo and Harris Interactive. us.sodexo.com. 2023. 3. 2022 Plant-Forward Opportunity Report, Datassential. datassential.com. 2022. 4. What Motivates Gen Z to Go Plant-Based? Sodexo Campus. us.sodexo.com. 2023.