Healthy Eating

Providing you with healthy options is something your dining team proudly does every day. We help you select delicious, nutritious and satisfying meals, snacks and desserts by highlighting well-balanced menu choices and providing nutritional information and tips to help you make choices that fit your needs.

Meet the Dietitian

Our Registered Dietitian, Susan Hurd, adds another dimension to our dining program by working with our campus community to encourage healthy lifestyles and to help individuals become more comfortable in their dining environment.  She has a passion for leading a healthy lifestyle and empowering people of all ages to reach their healthiest potential through food and nutrition.  Sue works closely with our Office of Student Accessibility Services teams to ensure the health and safety of our students with medical needs. She is an AllerTrain™ certified master trainer providing ongoing food allergy education to our dining team to help ensure safe and delicious foods for our customers with food allergies and Celiac disease.  Sue recommends you check out our daily menus online or on our Everyday App. Come meet Sue at one of her regular special events in the Restaurants at Ben Franklin or Steinman College Center or contact her via email.   Want to see what Sue is working on around our area? Follow  her on Instagram @campusdietitian_sue 

Office of Student Accessibility Services

If you wish to speak to a manager further regarding your student's dietary needs, please contact us at (717) 358-7165 to schedule an appointment or speak with our Registered Dietitian, Susan Hurd, directly at email. For more information about special dietary accommodations please visit the Franklin and Marshall College Office of Student Accessibility Services Homepage.

Simple Servings at the Restaurants at Ben Franklin

The Simple Servings station at the Restaurants at Ben Franklin provides safe and appetizing food choices for our customers with food allergies, gluten intolerance, and those who prefer simple food. All foods served at this station are prepared with ingredients that do not contain milk, eggs, wheat, soy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, or gluten. The station uses separate equipment/utensils, preparation areas, and storage areas to minimize the potential of allergens or gluten in our Simple Servings foods.  
 
The menu rotates daily and includes a variety of protein (i.e., chicken, beef, lentils), vegetables (i.e., broccoli, carrots, green beans), and starches (i.e., rice, potato, quinoa).  There is a salad option available too. (and insert additional offerings such as lentil pasta bar, etc.).
The station is incorporated into the servery to allow students, even those without allergy concerns, to enjoy the wholesome food selections.  We ask that guests do not bring food from other stations and only use the plates provided by our servers at Simple Servings.   
 
Simple Servings team members are carefully trained to prepare and serve safe food. We provide training throughout the year for all employees and our Simple Servings managers, supervisors, and cooks also hold the AllerTrainU™ certificates.
 
While the Simple Servings station is designed to allow customers an easy way to avoid allergens and gluten, we encourage our customers with special dietary needs to connect with our chef, registered dietitian, and general manager to ensure an enjoyable dining experience.  Please contact us at (717) 358-4200 or mail us.

Food Allergies

We take pride in serving you wholesome ingredients, preparing recipes accurately and providing nutritional analysis and ingredient statements through our online menus and nutrition calculator. From our general manager to our front line servers, we work carefully to address food allergies, celiac diets, or other special dietary needs. Simple Servings offers meal options for our guests that require allergen-free options. The rest of the Restaurants at Ben Franklin is also peanut and nut-tree free.

We want to meet one-on-one with anyone who has individual dining needs to ensure that your dining experience is safe, delicious, and social. If you have a food allergy/special diet concern, please call or send us a note using the feedback form.

You can read this card to see how you can dine across the campus and keep gluten-safe.

Mindful mindful-icon

Mindful is Sodexo's health & wellness approach that helps you make healthy choices second nature! We are committed to creating healthy environments for our customers. Central to this effort is providing healthy, nutritious foods. The result of this initiative is an approach that focuses on transparency of ingredients, delicious food, satisfying portions and clarity in message so that you can make Mindful choices!

Mindful offerings meet stringent nutritional criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Each meal part is limited in calories, has fewer than 30% of calories as fat, fewer than 10 % of calories as saturated fat, and is restricted in sodium, and cholesterol. Look for the Mindful icon to indulge in the healthy and delicious items offered at each meal.

Sick Meal Request Form

We're sorry that you're not feeling well! If you are ill, we encourage you to stay in and rest rather than coming into our dining facilities.  This will help prevent the spread of illnesses.  We are happy to provide you with a to-go container for a meal which you can charge to your dining account, and have a friend pick up for you.
 
Submit your request here, filling out all the required information. Please indicate which friend will pick up for you and at what time. A pick-up time a minimum of two hours is required after you put in the request to allow for the Diplomat Dining team to ensure it is ready without a wait. If you are picking up yourself, we request that you wear a mask when entering the dining hall.
Our menu system provides ingredient statements specifically highlighting the big eight allergens: milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, & soy. Guests may check on the presence of allergens prior to planning their meals using the online menu, Bite app,  and nutrition calculator. The absence of an allergen listed on posted or electronic product signage is not a guarantee that the product is free of that allergen. The guest is responsible for communicating their allergy to a supervisor or manager to ensure safety.

We strive to ensure that those with food allergies and sensitivities are able to find something to eat on campus. Menu items at the Restaurants at Ben Franklin are prepared using recipes and ingredients that do not contain tree nuts or peanuts but we cannot control exposure to tree nuts or peanuts in the manufacturing process. Simple Servings in the Restaurants at Ben Franklin offers meal options for our guests that require allergen-friendly options. This station offers food safe from from peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, wheat, soy, milk products, eggs, sesame, and gluten-containing ingredients. Simple Servings staff members are carefully trained to avoid cross-contact with food allergens. 

Modified gluten options are available in our retail locations located in Steinman College Center and Blue Line Cafe, however other allergens are also used in these areas and there may be potential of cross-contact.

Vegetarian-35x35.pngThe Restaurants at Ben Franklin offers a variety of menu items that are vegetarian and vegan, including a new vegan station called Trellis. Menu items with the vegetarian icon contain no meat, fish or poultry, or any meat products such as soup base. Our vegetarian offerings meet the needs of lacto-ovo vegetarians and may include eggs and/or dairy products. 

Vegan-35x35.pngThe Restaurants at Ben Franklin now offers a variety of plant-based options every day. Included in these options is our station, Trellis at KIVO, which is entirely plant-based. Trellis at KIVO also offers plant-based desserts made fresh by our bakery. Plant-based breakfast options are available in other areas of The Restaurants at Ben Franklin. 

Our retail locations at Steinman College Center also offers plant-based options on their menus, including Impossible burgers and vegan grilled cheese. Plant-based options at Steinman are prepared on separate cooking equipment strictly for plant-based offerings. Plant-based offerings contain no meat, fish, eggs, milk or other animal-derived products such as honey.

Plant Based meals only use ingredients from plants such as: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. They may also include honey and sugar. Plantbased