Rules of conduct through which we govern the organization and ourselves.

1. Sanitation and safety are paramount.
2. Always treat people with dignity.
3. Provide excellence in product and service.
4. Be 100% responsive. Take 100% personal responsibility.
5. Professional behavior at all times.
6. Find opportunities to recognize accomplishments and provide personal growth.
7. Promote a sustainable dining and food system at Virginia Tech and therefore in the greater community.

1. Dining Services will develop a technology plan and marketing strategies using current and emerging technologies to increase operational effectiveness and to maximize student use.
   
   
2. Dining Services will develop communication plans to effectively inform staff and strengthen stakeholder support.
   
   
3. Dining Services will provide innovative, comfortable, well maintained, cost effective, and productive facilities that encourage community.
   
   
4. Dining Services will provide on-going training and professional development as an operational standard insuring highly skilled, engaged, and productive staff, while increasing retention and excellence in customer service.
   
   
5. Dining Services will develop a fiscally responsible revenue and expenditure budget to support operational and strategic goals.
   
   
6. Dining Services will provide an avenue for learning and exploration through special events and educational programs.
   
   
7. Dining Services will be environmentally responsible by expanding sustainable initiatives and offerings in a safe and fiscally effective manner.
   
   
8. Dining Services will develop a program to deliver culinary excellence in order to exceed customer expectations for a wide variety of nutritious and safe food choices.

1. Facilitated surveys will be conducted by the staff evaluating management and by the guests evaluating the department.
2. A professional mystery shopper will be used to evaluate service and products.
3. All operating units will be inspected for sanitation and food safety issues and practices accordingly: inspected/audited once a semester by an outside agency (Steritech); HACCP reviews conducted by the administrative dietitian, senior associate director, and associate director twice a semester; and a yearly inspection and follow-up inspections on corrective actions conducted by the Montgomery County Health Department.
4. Employees will receive annual training in customer service, sanitation, and safety.
5. Two personal development programs will be offered each year.
6. Develop a sustainable dining and food system by promoting healthy eaters, ecological stewardship, waste reduction and diversion, the local economy, social justice, and animal welfare.

Turner Place will be a state-of-the-art dining facility located on Stanger and Old Turner Streets on the academic side of campus. This new and much-anticipated facility will set the trend for campus dining in the foreseeable future.

With glass walls and grand entrances throughout, Turner Place will have a light, open feel. Housing eight separate restaurants, it will offer a variety of cuisine that includes national brands and unique venues, some of which will be the first of their kind on a university campus. Read more.

For the second year in a row, Virginia Tech was included in "The Princeton Review's Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition." Sustainability is a top priority for Dining Services. We began diverting food waste to composting at select dining centers in 2009. Since then, we've prevented several hundred tons of waste from entering the landfill. A tracking system has been developed to cut back on overproduction waste on the front end, while Poplar Manor Enterprises, a local family composting business, collects the waste each week and transforms it into a sustainable soil amendment at their farm in nearby Riner, Va. We even close the loop by using the compost at the Dining Services Garden at Kentland Farm.

Through a partnership with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Kentland Farm, Dining Services is able to offer fresh, local produce to students from our very own garden. The garden has expanded to more than an acre of sustainably managed vegetables and herbs. This year, we expect to produce over 30,000 pounds of produce. The garden is managed by two dedicated student employees. Southgate Food Center coordinates with chefs in the dining centers to get the best use out of the available produce, routing it from farm to plate in 24 hours.

A very popular option with our guests is Virginia Tech-raised beef and pork from the Virginia Tech Meat Science Center, offered in West End Market and the Farms and Fields Project at Owens Food Court. In addition, West End Market uses the Monterey Seafood Watch guidelines to serve only sustainable seafood, and the Farms and Fields Project offers exclusively local, organic, or sustainable food.

Another initiative is reducing waste with our popular to-go dining options. Reusable water bottles are offered for purchase at a nominal cost, and when used in the dining centers, receive free water or a discount on fountain drinks. Several hundred of these bottles have been sold and are in use. A reusable to-go container pilot program was initiated this spring to offer a green option to foam takeout containers, and a receipt recycling program is in the works for all locations.