Centre announces new food service partnership with Parkhurst Dining

Centre College is excited to announce its partnership with a new food service management company: Parkhurst Dining.

The partnership is indicative of the College’s commitment to health and wellness for its campus—a pillar in Centre’s strategic plan. Faculty, staff and students played a role in the intensive selection process, which began in 2020.

“Parkhurst is delighted to be chosen as the strategic dining partner to Centre College, a campus with an outstanding reputation in private higher education,” said Parkhurst’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Broadhurst. “We see it as our responsibility to deliver a differentiated and inclusive dining experience to the students consistent with the excellence they’ve come to expect from their Centre education.”

The College conducted a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new food service contract earlier this year, with a focus placed on the nutritional needs of the College community. Campus involvement and collaboration were core pieces in the decision-making process. Student focus groups helped evaluate specific dining needs and find actionable solutions.

“Parkhurst has expressed interest in partnering with Centre for many years, and when we issued a competitive RFP for our dining contract, their years of listening carefully to us truly showed up in their customized proposal for Centre Dining,” Ann Smith said.

Smith is the Finance Department Director of Procurement and Capital Projects at Centre, as well as chair of the food service steering committee. She said that student feedback was integral to the decision to partner with Parkhurst, who will provide menus with allergen-free options and plant-centric dishes. Student-choice voting elements will help drive variety and student satisfaction.

“We are very excited about what this new dining partnership means for our students—not only for [Parkhurst’s] rigorous food quality standards but also for their local sourcing practices, student engagement initiatives and late-night dining options,” Smith said. “I believe our students, faculty and staff, as well as the community, will be very pleased with what is on the horizon.”

Centre Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Hutzley said that Parkhurst represents “superior quality, consistency, hours, services, education and wellness, and stability.” He said the College is thrilled to offer “dining as a destination” through the Parkhurst partnership, as well as providing students with a more inclusive dining experience.

Parkhurst will be hard at work ahead of students returning to campus this fall. The partnership will go into effect June 1.

“We’ll be focusing on key transition activities this summer, including onboarding the current dining team, growing partnerships with local farmers and food businesses, and preparing to launch new menus and concepts when the students return this fall,” said Larry Orr, Vice President of Higher Education Dining at Parkhurst. “We’ll be placing an emphasis on freshness, quality, inclusivity and student choice, as well as delicious options that amplify the College’s focus on wellness.”

Parkhurst is a family-owned and operated company founded in 1996 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Business Times recently recognized Parkhurst as one of its “Best Places to Work.”

Centre represents Parkhurst’s first client partnership in Kentucky but not its first partnership with a college or university, as the company is focused on two specific lines of business: corporate dining and private higher education. The company serves more than 70 partner locations in 15 states and looks forward to locally sourcing foods from farmers, bakers, restaurateurs and artisan food producers in and around central Kentucky.