Cal Poly Pomona’s new brewery has found an award-winning recipe for success.
Innovation Brew Works, operated by the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc. (CPPF), earned first place in the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) 2015 Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards.
The annual award is the most prestigious honor that celebrates and recognizes exemplary campus dining services throughout the United States and Canada. In college and university culinary arts, the ultimate professional tribute is a NACUFS Loyal E. Horton Dining Award.
“To win such a distinguished award is an enormous accomplishment for Innovation Brew Works and the entire foundation,” says CPPF Executive Director Paul Storey. “The foundation continually strives to provide the best services to the campus and surrounding community, and we are proud to do so with an award-winning dining program.”
CPPF entered Innovation Brew Works under the “retail sales-single concept” category, which is open to any single, stand-alone dining unit that is not part of a marketplace concept.
Applicants had to send a comprehensive book filled with detailed descriptions, examples and photographs of the unit, and were judged on categories including the menu, facility design, merchandising, marketing, nutrition, sustainability and “wow” factor. The Innovation Brew Works team and CPPF marketing department worked on the 60-page project for over two months.
“When organizing and designing our entry, we not only highlighted all of the brewery’s notable features, but also emphasized its educational program and the fact that it is the first genuine educational brewery-restaurant on a university campus that is open to the public,” says Edwin Santiago, CPPF marketing director. “Our goal was to show the judges just how unique and valuable the brewery truly is.”
This marks the second consecutive year that a CPPF dining unit has received a Loyal E. Horton Dining Award. The Poly Trolley food truck received first place in the 2014 Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards under the same category.
“To receive first place two years in a row is an exceptional achievement,” says Aaron Neilson, CPPF dining services director. “Innovation Brew Works would not have been possible without the help and support of many talented professionals, and we are all so honored to have been recognized.”
CPPF competed against prestigious schools throughout the nation. Campuses that finished behind the foundation included Carleton University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Oklahoma and Vanderbilt University.
The foundation will be honored at the NACUFS national conference held in Indianapolis in late July. All entries will be on display during the event, and CPPF will be publicly recognized at the dining awards luncheon.