Meals get yummier with PSC!

18 May 2017 University life 0

Public Sector Catering is one of the university departments whose history dates back to 1960-s. It has been undergoing continual improvement since 2011 with the coming of the new management. The cooking equipment has been modernized, most canteens have been reconstructed, each café got its unique design and name. Some of the canteen names are truly “popular” like “Sphere” that was named so by students for the spherical lamps, and “Underground” which got its name because of the narrow corridor, looking like a subway tunnel, that leads to the canteen interior.

Meals get yummier with PSC!

PSC is in charge of 16 university canteens, cafes and buffets. The main kitchen is located in the 4th academic building – from here meals are distributed to the cafes. The 4th building is also the location of the student canteen, lunch hall, teacher canteen and «#ХочуБыстроПит» café. There are cafes in the main building, Hydro Building, academic building #15, at the School of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade, dormitories #4 and #11. Pyshechnaya “Cellar”, campus mobile dining car and the tent café by the 4th academic building are also affiliated to PSC. The company also includes a bakery which provides bread, pastries and cakes for the entire university.

Meals get yummier with PSC!

Early to rise

The main kitchen opens early – the cooks arrive around 6. The dormitory canteens are the first to open. The cafes start work at 9 or 10 am. Most canteens close at 5-6 pm with the exception of “Underground” and the canteen at the Graduate School of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade at 50, Novorossiyskaya street that closes at 8 pm so that evening and part-time students had an opportunity to have dinner. Student canteens are open Monday to Friday, but the canteen in the 4th building is open on Saturday, the main kitchen works six days a week.

The food quality is under strict control. Fresh food is delivered every day and its quality is checked according to the international HACCP quality control standards. If the quality of the product is questioned, it will be send back to the distributor. Any food that will remain unsold by the end of the day will be written off.

Meals get yummier with PSC!

What’s for lunch?

Menu composition is the prerogative of the canteen director and the senior kitchen manager who work in the main kitchen along with other 8 cooks.

Meals get yummier with PSC!

“Menu must include poultry, several kinds of red meat and fish. For those on a diet we have low calorie steamed meatballs, we also offer vegetarian pancakes or chops. When writing a menu, we always keep in mind the season characteristics. There are lean dishes during Lent, summer is the time for okroshka and cold borsch, New Year season is hard to image without stew and dressed herring, Easter week is accompanied with Russian pancakes with different staffing. During summer we make barbeques and fried sausages in the tent café near the 4th academic building”, - tells PSC director Mr. E.V. Kolesnik.

Writing a menu, the cooks consider their customers’ preferences. A book of complaints is available at every dining point, and the PSC executives keep in touch with students via the Students Union to know their opinion.

Meals get yummier with PSC!

Good quality for good value

The cost of a complete lunch composed of soup, a main course, a salad and a beverage at most canteens does not exceed 200-250 rubles. Prices for meat dishes range between 50 and 150 rubles, soups between 50 and 85, salads – between 30 and 80 rubles. The lunch hall offers cheaper meals, there are three types of business lunch – for 130, 150, 170 rubles. Lunch includes soup, a salad, a main course, a beverage, a slice of bread and a pie. The difference between the two is that for 130 rubles you will have a cabbage salad, whereas a 170-ruble meal includes a more nourishing meat salad.

As of now, the university offers free breakfast to all students. But starting the 1st of September they will have to pay for “rector’s porridge”. “Milk porridge won’t be expensive , its cost won’t go above 30 rubles. We will have a wider variety of breakfast options that will be available until 11 am”, - says director of the Social programs Department of SPbPU Mrs. N.U. Vvedenskaya.

Students and staff can also count on discounts and special prices for the “dish of the day”, 50% discount on morning bakery and complementary tea. Almost every café offers milkshakes for 50 rubles and freshly-made juices whose cost ranges from 60 to 120 rubles for a glass.

What’s the plan, PSC?

PSC is eager to implement new technology in its work. Among the innovations is the meal delivery service. The staff of PSC are currently thinking over the possibility of using little electric cars with trailers to deliver meals across campus grounds. Custom made bakery is already available at all canteens, cafes or trailers. Catering services will be undergoing further improvement, attracting off-campus customers.

 Meals get yummier with PSC!
Meals get yummier with PSC!

Some plans are already being put into practice, like selling product all over the district. PSC was invited by the Kalininsky district administration to set up outdoor dining spots across Murinsky park during the V-day celebration. Since the administration previously had a chance to get a taste of our food during Maslenitsa, they suggested that PSC cooks for people on the 9th of May as well. The Polytech trailers, offering warming tea, coffee and alcohol-free mulled wine, were set up in the park. So when the 1st of July arrives you can count on Kalininsky district administration for circuses and on Public Services Catering for “bread”.

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