Students are officially back on campus for the fall semester, as well as a new chef in town for the entire Presbyterian College community.

AVI Foodsystems is PC’s newest partner for offering food service and hospitality throughout campus, which includes healthy food options at both Greenville Dining Hall and Springs Student Center to help mend students’ evolving needs during the current school year. 

Jason Koenig, the College’s Director of Auxiliary Services, has partnered with David Brown, PC’s new dining director who operates and manages AVI Foodsystems, to provide fresh and unique products to students, faculty, and staff.

 “Through this partnership with AVI, our community will be the recipients of an exceptional food service program that will both meet and exceed students’ expectations,” Koenig said in a statement regarding the new partnership on the school’s website.

AVI Foodsystems is an independent family-owned food service company that values tradition and healthy food to its clients through contemporary cafes, restaurant concepts, resident dining programs, innovative micro markets, and exclusive beverage & coffee systems.

In the face of student dissatisfaction from previous spring and fall surveys, Koenig and the food committee decided to look at various ways to help change the current dining standard.  

Despite this willingness, the change in food service companies was a shock to most.

Aramark, the previous company in charge, was replaced after a recent change in management. The previous manager, Magen Cass, displayed similar desires for improving students’ needs and listened to feedback, but was cut short due to differing requests.

Based on students’ suggestions, the retail features in Greenville Dining Hall and Springs Student Center now have significant upgrades compared to previous years. 

Both places now offer variation and adaptability in flavor profiles such as Asian-style or Chick-fil-A concepts and consistent, high-quality food service. They also implemented a to-go service to cater to on-the-go students heading to class. One of the newest restaurants from AVI, Craft, features a rotating menu of fresh hamburgers, handheld specials, and bowls. 

AVI will also seek to implement local-fresh ingredients on salad bars and open a new restaurant in downtown Clinton, Freshëns Fresh Food Kitchen at 112 Musgrove Street.

While Moe’s will be missed to all students, the new option provides a need for healthier, delicious options that previous meal selections did not offer to students in the past. AVI’s “fresh, forward trend” hires real chefs using cooked food and original recipes made from scratch to help create high quality meals for everyone to enjoy.

“We’re making our pizza dough; we’re grinding our peanut butter,” David Brown, PC’s new dining director, said.

Brown, who will be overseeing the new dinning, has family ties to PC in the past. He previously worked at a country club as a dishwasher and worked his way up to culinary school, before transferring his skills to BMW for several years. His prior experience in culinary work included working at Wofford College up in Spartanburg.

While the changes are new, previous entities such as Starbucks still operates their current location at Springs.

Koenig and Brown will plan on sending surveys throughout the fall and spring semesters to students across campus regarding the new dining options. If interested, students can snap a quick picture of the QR code on the napkin dispensers to submit feedback.