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items and soups were moved to gluten-free choices.
“It just kind of happened,” she said. “We looked at the
menu and instead of bulgur-stuffed eggplant, we did
quinoa-stuffed eggplant; just little changes. It kind of
naturally happened. Students were asking where the
gluten-free items were, so on the line, if they could
make it gluten-free, they did.”
It also helped that Dining was already sourcing
gluten-free ingredients for facilities across campus. “Our
soup bases were gluten-free already,” said Lefebvre.
“It made for the progression of this to be very simple
and not something that was not a lot of extra effort.”
What also helped in the progression was that Risley
started as the flagship dining unit for the Eating Well
with Cornell Dining program. “Naturally, we had moved
over to whole-grain pastas; we removed the fryer years
ago,” she said. “It was a very plant-forward menu.
The people who ate there tended to be a little more
health-conscious as well. Again, this progres-
sion happened naturally based on customer
needs and what we were doing anyway.”
In the spring of 2016, Lefebvre
was looking at fall menus for Risley flat top was thoroughly cleaned and
with Chef Kevin Grant, when she sanitized, and the chef put together
suggested the testing of replace- a bunch of different menu ideas
ment items for the pizza/pasta as alternatives. The flat top was a
station, one of the last non-glu- very popular menu option. There
ten-free stations in the facility. were burgers, grilled cheese, om-
“He came up with a bunch of elets. He came up with a bunch
ideas for replacing,” said Lefeb- of ideas. He does something like
vre. “He added a nacho bar, huevos smashburgers, but he puts them on
rancheros, baked potatoes, stuffed a bed of arugula or spinach.”
polenta French toast, roasted cauli- A number of the alumni Lefebvre
flower, polenta pizza. It was a matter of worked with also suggested that with
testing to see what happens if we eliminated all of the changes, the facility should be
the pizza. There was a little push back, but they certified as gluten-free. “They thought that was
really enjoyed all of the other options because it was so a really good way for our students to trust that it was
flavor-forward, they weren’t really missing it. That was a bit gluten-free.”
of a flavor profile switch. We shifted the flavor so that there Kitchens with Confidence, an allergen and gluten-free
were new dishes that didn’t necessarily feature gluten.” auditing and accreditation firm, completed the audit. The fa-
With that change, Grant decided to move forward with cility is also certified as free from peanuts and tree nuts. The
making the entire facility gluten-free. “We had alumni support school worked with MenuTrinfo to conduct all of its allergy
through gifts to help purchase a new oven,” she said. “The training for the staff.
Even though the facility was gluten-free during the fall
semester, it wasn’t announced to guests. “Some on staff
wanted to announce it,” she said. “I said we should wait. I
wanted to wait until the beginning of the spring semester
and when we were certified. All fall we were gluten-free.
We had our grand opening and announcement in the first
week of February. Before the announcement, we ran a
survey to see if students knew if in fact it was gluten-free,
and 47 percent who were polled did not know that it was.
That speaks to the quality of food.”
While preliminary surveys are still being calculated, the
reaction of students has been positive. “We did a calcula-
tion, and year over year, we have only lost 1.1 customers
per day,” said Lefebvre. “We really managed to maintain
all of our customers. I think our customer base has changed
a little bit. We are seeing a lot more of our staff, and we
are getting a lot more students coming because they have
a need. We have not lost a customer base.”

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