Virginia Tech’s award-winning dining program has been recognized again Restaurants & Institutions (R&I) magazine recently named the university’s Housing and Dining Services a nominee for the 2006 Ivy Award, honoring the best foodservice professionals in the industry.

Each year, past Ivy Award winners nominate commercial and non-commercial foodservice organizations for this award—one of the most highly esteemed awards in the industry. Nominees are then elected by the R&I subscription pool of 154,000 trade professionals, making the Ivy Award a prestigious symbol of acknowledgment from foodservice industry peers. All readers who receive a subscription to the magazine are invited to cast their votes using the ballot included in the January issue of R&I.

Virginia Tech’s dining program has frequently been recognized for excellence in foodservice. Last year, the Princeton Review’s Best 361 Colleges, 2006, ranked Virginia Tech ninth in its “Best Campus Food” category, and the National Association of College and University Food Services awarded the university the 2005 Loyal E. Horton Dining Contest grand prize for “Best Catered Event.” Housing and Dining Services has also received national awards for D2, West End Market, and Deet’s Place dining centers, and for numerous special programs and events.

“We are honored to be nominated for the prestigious Ivy Award,” said Rick Johnson, director of housing and dining services. “This nomination is especially meaningful because each nominee must be selected by a past winner. This means that Virginia Tech dining services has been recognized for doing an outstanding job by someone who has been judged by their peers to be one of the best in the business.”

The winners of this year’s Ivy Award will be featured in the May issue of R&I. They will also be invited to attend an award ceremony during the National Restaurant Association Show May 21, when they will be formally inducted into the Ivy Society. The society was founded in 1971 to recognize and reward the top foodservice organizations in the business. Its membership includes representatives from the nearly 300 winners since the award’s inception.

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