RYE BROOK, N.Y., Sept. 16, 2025—Higher education remains a dynamic market segment for CulinArt Group with the opening of two new accounts this month.
Six buildings comprise the campus of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Cornell Tech is a collaboration between Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, first opening in 2012 in Google’s Manhattan office building. It moved to Roosevelt Island five years later and offers master’s, Ph.D., and post-doctoral programs to approx. 600 students.
CulinArt operates a ground-floor café to support those students, nearly as many faculty and staff, and members of the local community (11,000 or so New Yorkers call Roosevelt Island home). Café offerings include Chef’s Table entrees, rotating street foods, specialty pizzas, Boar’s Head deli plus paninis, crafted entrée salads and international bowls, and a variety of breakfast options, supported by a large variety of grab-and-go meals and snacks. There is also a coffee bar offering espresso beverages, gelato, affogato (an Italian coffee-based dessert), and baked goods fresh from CulinArt’s local bakery and kitchen. Future plans for the Cornell Tech Café include an expanded grab-and-go Market with robust salad bar, a wood-fired pizza oven, a Boba tea and refresher menu, and several other on-trend menu enhancements.
Just north of San Francisco, Dominican University of California enrolls approx. 1,800 students, a quarter of whom live on campus. The 110-year-old institution—which is rooted in an effort to educate children during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s—launched a new partnership with CulinArt to operate its main dining hall and Chilly’s, a café invoking the university mascot (a penguin).
At Caleruega Dining Hall, students can choose from Chef’s Table comfort-style entrees, global cuisine, grill, pizza, soup, and a sandwich bar. Chilly’s Cafe provides a variety of quick-serve meals, toasted sandwiches, flatbread pizza, breakfast sandwiches, fresh baked goods, snacks, yogurts, and more. Beverages include freshly brewed Equator Coffee (sustainably and ethically sourced), teas and slushies from Boba & Co., and Tractor Beverage slushies (sustainably sourced and organically crafted).
“CulinArt is committed to enhancing college and university dining services as a key part of our growth strategy,” states Peter Witkowski, president. “These two new partnerships align perfectly with our focus on small to mid-size campuses, catering to specific needs within higher education. Just like all our partners in this area, we prioritize tailored solutions, student engagement, and accessible management to address the distinct requirements of our specialized clientele.”
In a related move, CulinArt recently rejuvenated dining services at the Philadelphia and Georgia campuses of the Philadelphia College for Osteopathic Medicine, as part of a 10-year extension. A renovation of the café at the Philadelphia campus improved food presentation, customer-staff interaction, and customer throughput; a new retail market with mobile ordering and cashless payment has given students more convenience and flexibility in their purchasing habits; and the Spoonfed catering platform is processing orders with ease. A similarly equipped market and Spoonfed are doing the same for customers at the Suwanee, Ga., campus, where the café now sports modular cooking and serving equipment as well as a ventless fryer.
And Stony Brook University, CulinArt’s largest dining services partner (in higher education and overall), renovated both of its residential dining centers (called “dine-ins”) over the summer—with new floors, millwork, architectural features, lighting, wall treatments, and seating. Elsewhere in the SBU Eats realm, new food concepts represent a back-to-basics grill approach, including:
- Nathan’s Famous, the legendary hot dog and fries purveyor originating in Coney Island, complimenting those mainstays with burgers, chicken tenders, and cheesesteak sandwiches.
- Flame, a grill station bringing “bold flavors and sizzling favorites” to students in the form of juicy burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and crispy fries.