IU Dining has launched a new employee meal plan to provide convenient, on-campus options for nonstudent Indiana University Bloomington faculty and staff.

Indiana University Bloomington staff eat a meal at the McNutt Quadrangle dining hall, which will be one of the dining locations for the new employee meal plan. Photo by Isabel Gregory, Campus Auxiliaries Communications and MarketingEmployees can choose from six all-you-care-to-eat dining locations, all three locations of The Globe concept — which features a rotation of popular local restaurants, including Taste of India and Bivi’s Tamales — and the Tudor Room in the Indiana Memorial Union. The plan is accessible through an employee’s university ID and also covers walk-ins from pay-as-you-go locations (Campus Cafes, Campus Stores and the IMU).

“Our primary mission is to support IU students, whose research, volunteerism, internships and employment directly support the state of Indiana; this plan allows us to serve the employees who serve our students,” IU Dining Executive Director Rahul Shrivastav said.

IU Dining has undergone a transformation since 2017, first by emphasizing locally, ethically sourced food and meals made from scratch, he said. An all-you-care-to-eat plan started in the 2022-23 academic year to help combat food insecurity.

Shrivastav said he developed the employee meal plan in response to faculty and staff requests for more convenient dining locations. Dining staff also saw an uptick in the number of employees having meals in spaces convenient to their offices, such as McNutt Quadrangle and Bookmarket Eatery. He added that the all-you-care-to-eat spaces offer plentiful vegetarian and vegan options; dishes to accommodate a vast array of dietary preferences and food allergies; and the opportunity to sample a variety of cuisines, cutting down on food waste.

Employees can use IU’s online NetNutrition site to find current recipes and nutritional and allergen information by dining location.

The new food plan also provides meals at a lower cost. The plan costs a lump sum payment of $310, with tax included, and provides 25 meal scans. Under the plan, meals cost $12.40 each with tax included, compared to $14.28 plus tax for lunch and $17.58 plus tax for dinner otherwise. Multiple scans (or all 25) may be used when employee plan-holders bring guests to dining spaces.

The employee meal plan has a few exceptions. The Vault Pub is not currently part of the plan, and Sunday brunches and special holiday meals at the Tudor Room are exempt from the plan.

Kirk Johannesen is a communications consultant in the Office of the Vice President of Communications and Marketing.