UMD unveils $25M main production kitchen renovation

DULUTH, Minn. — People gathered at the University of Minnesota Duluth for the unveiling of its new Main Production Kitchen, a $25 million renovation designed to feed thousands of Bulldog students and faculty every day.

Originally built in 1971, the Main Production Kitchen served around 800 students. After decades of use and an increase in student enrollment, it has been rebuilt to serve roughly 9,000 students, with a focus on sustainability and cooking from scratch.

“The needs of our students and our guests have changed, and so we’ve adapted to create foods that are cleaner, more simple, and able to separate, and we developed food that is almost restaurant quality or restaurant worthy, and I’m really proud of the products we have with those changes,” said Betsy Helgesen, director of Dining at UMD. “We needed to get new equipment, safe equipment, and obviously higher volume, because we serve a lot more guests.”

The kitchen has all-new equipment, from roll-in ovens to flash-freezers, and most of the appliances in the kitchen have smart technology, which helps free up time for the chefs throughout the day.

“It feels awesome just dealing with a whole bunch of new gadgets,” said Marcos Robles, cook at UMD. “I’m sure some of the other cooks could back me up on that, too. New items, new new things to cook, new gadgets to work with, to try and figure out which is a part of the fun, I think of cooking.”

Thanks to the new state-of-the-art equipment, the kitchen can prepare everything from Northern Minnesota comfort foods to bold flavors inspired by global options. This allows students to have a variety of dishes to choose from that better match individual needs.

“We want nutritious foods that can help not only nourish the bodies and minds of our students, staff, and faculty,” said Helgesen. “We want to make sure that those foods address dietary restrictions or allergens. We want to make sure that it includes foods that offer comfort and maybe also growth.”

With the kitchen fully upgraded just in time for the start of the spring semester, students and staff can immediately enjoy meals that are fresher, more diverse, and thoughtfully prepared.