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Design

The Outpost and Provisions

LAND AT PENN STATE HARRISBURG

ith the campus population
Wgrowing at a tremendous
rate in the last few years, Penn State
Harrisburg in Middletown needed to
add more campus foodservice options
to meet the demand. Dining Services
added The Outpost and Provisions to
do just that.
“This campus, when it first opened
in the 1960s, was an upper-division-only
campus, so there was not a great need
for foodservice operations on campus,”
said Craig Cook, director of Housing
and Food Services. “Then, in the early
2000s, the campus started transitioning
from upper division only to all four
years, taking freshmen and sophomores.
We added freshman housing. Housing
started going up off-campus really fast,
so there are over 2,000 beds within walking we approached the opening and
distance of our foodservice operations, but were talking to more students,
only 450 belong to us.” that is when they had a chance to
Foodservice on campus was originally sample the menu; and what we
a snack bar called the Lion’s Den, in the started with, that is something
basement of the Olmsted Building. “As that they have said to us. It is
we started taking freshmen, and as more something that we also recog-
beds started to be built and going up in the immediate area, nized from the times that we would do it that those are the
demand increased; so Stacks Market, a food court, grew out kinds of things they like.”
of the Lion’s Den and came upstairs. It took the space over A very popular regular offering at The Outpost is a build-
that was previously occupied by the library. That has already your-own burrito. “We knew that would work because build-
been through two renovations since it came upstairs in 2004.” your-own burritos were on our cycle menu at Stacks Market,
According to Cook, the incoming first-year class has been and every time we would put it on, they would just fly out
growing between 50 and 100 students a year since the early the door,” he said. “We wanted to put something on there
2000s. “In this past year, our first-year class was over 1,100. that we knew would be successful to help bring some of the
There has been a tremendous influx of students on campus, students over there.”
and our infrastructure was just bursting at the seams. The Cook is planning on adding more build-your-own items for
campus recognized back in 2013 that we needed another space the fall semester. “We are going to be adding a build-your-own
for the students. So the idea was to create this new building burger and build-your-own mac and cheese,” he said. “We have
that would just be for student services and foodservice, to be found that when we present the build-your-own options to the
a hub for our students.” students, they really like taking something and making it their
The new Student Enrichment Center features a number own with this list of ingredients that they can choose from.”
of student activities, including a theater, bookstore, student Also at The Outpost is a Shake, Bake and Brew concept
government offices and student counseling. The center also that is available at other Penn State campuses. “The shake part
features The Outpost, a new retail foodservice operation, and is the Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream,” said Cook.
Provisions, a convenience store. “The bake part is Penn State Bakery items, and the brew part
The Outpost offers customers a variety of artisan choices is the Starbucks We Proudly Brew Coffee.”
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner — including handmade break- What also helps The Outpost offer a variety of items is
fast sandwiches, salads, soups and chef-created piazzas, or a combi oven from Alto-Shaam. “It really does give us flex-
flatbread pizzas. ibility to do different things over there,” he said. “One of the
It was important for Cook that The Outpost not have exactly really cool things is that we can smoke meat in it and add that
the same items as Stacks. “What we were really trying to do smoky flavor. Just having that one piece of equipment that
with that place is not have a Stacks Market 2, but rather to can do that variety of things is very helpful. It lends itself to
have another location that has a distinct theme, feel and menu, not taking up too much space with too many different pieces
to draw them over there to have a different experience. We of equipment.”
are trying to distinguish between the two operations by using Since its launch in August of 2016, Dining Services has
more made-to-order options over there and build your own. As tweaked the menus to make sure that it was offering the cam-

16 | MAY 2017 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY