About Us

We offer a variety of selections daily to accommodate students’ needs. We realize every person has different preferences, and we strive to provide every student with healthy and enjoyable meal choices. An operation’s culture personifies and personalizes a team’s existence.  It offers feeling, caring, emotion, enthusiasm and passion for its mission.

An Award Winning Team

Bates College Dining Services’ high standards and commitment to excellence have earned us recognition for a job well done!

  • 2024: Niche, Rated #7 Best College Food Service!
  • 2023: Niche, Rated #1 Best College Food Service in Maine
  • 2023: Niche, Rated #6 Best Food Service!
  • 2021: Niche, Rated #10 Best Food Service!
  • 2020: Niche, Rated #5 Best Food Service!
  • 2016-2017: Niche, A+ for campus food!
  • 2013-2017: Green Restaurant Association – 3 Star Certified
  • * The institution moved to AASHE (Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) Rating System for Sustainability. The AASHE Rating is TBD.
  • 2015: Harward Center Staff Award for Outstanding Support for Community Volunteerism, Leadership or Engagement
  • 2009-2012: Green Restaurant Association – 2 Star Certified
  • 2007: Harward Center Staff Award for Outstanding Support for Community Partnership
  • 2007: American Culinary Federation Maine Chapter, Inc. – Associate Member of the Year
  • 2005: NACUFS, Loyal E. Horton Dining Award – Second Place- Special Event/Catering
  • 2005: Princeton Review – #7 of 351 Colleges for Great Food!
  • 2004: NACUFS, Loyal E. Horton Dining Award – First Place – Special Event / Catering – Cat’s Cup Culinary Challenge
  • 2004: Princeton Review – #10 of 351 Colleges for Great Food!
  • 2003: NACUFS, Loyal E. Horton Dining Award – Third Place Residence Hall Dining – Theme Dinner Harvest Meal
  • 2003: United States Environmental Protection Agency – Best Management Practices for our Composting Program
  • 2002: NACUFS, Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking Survey.  Overall satisfaction, Bates Dining scored 47% higher than the average score of participating Colleges.
  • 2002: Green Restaurant Association, Bates College Dining was the first College to become a member
  • 2001: National Wildlife Federation – Leading School on their Report Card on Environmental Performance and Sustainability in Higher Education
  • 2000: Stanton Environmental Award for Advancing the Goal of the Bates Green Action Plan
  • 2000: Best of the Best Earth Day ReNew America National Award for Sustainability – category of waste prevention / recycling
  • 1999: Special recipient of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Award for Environmental Leadership
  • 1999: National Award for Sustainability – Recognized for best practices that encourage environmental sustainability by ReNew America and the President’s Council on Sustainable Development
  • 1998: Recognized in “Greening the Ivory Tower” (MIT Press, 1998) a book by Sarah Hammond Creighton on best environmental practices among colleges, universities and other institutions.

Check out our Bates College 2020 Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report!

To read more about sustainability at Bates, be sure to check out the Bates Sustainability website. 

Dining Contacts


Christine Schwartz
Associate Vice President for Dining, Conferences and Campus Events
(207) 786-8279
cschwart@bates.edu

 

 

 

Cheryl Lacey
Director of Dining Conferences and Campus Events
(207) 786-8355
clacey@bates.edu

 

 

 

 

John Lajoie
Associate Director of Dining
(207) 786-6052
jlajoie@bates.edu

 

 

 

 
 

Justin Good
Associate Director of Finance, Technology, and Employment
(207) 786-6118
jgood2@bates.edu

 
 

170629_Dining_Services_Staff_0159 (1)

Michael Staffenski
Associate Director of Culinary and Retail Operations
(207) 786-6334
mstaffen@bates.edu

 

 

 

 

Chris

Chris Davis
Assistant Director Culinary Operations
(207) 786-6334
cdavis@bates.edu

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dining Services Headshots, 2014

Donald Desrosiers
Catering Manager
(207) 786-6298
ddesrosi@bates.edu

 

 

 

 

Garrett Leavitt
Retail Operations Manager
(207) 786-8354
gleavitt@bates.edu