Faces of Massachusetts Agriculture
Kenneth Toong
Executive Director of UMass Dining, Amherst
Kenneth K Toong was born in Hong Kong and as a teen left the city with
an airline ticket and $10.00 in his pocket. With innumerable achievements
along the way, today Mr. Toong is the Executive Director of UMass Dining
at the Amherst Campus. His goal has been to transform the UMass Dining
into one of the top eating facilities among universities in the country.
Through his many innovative ideas, UMass Dining has been a leader in embracing
agricultural sustainability via the purchase of locally grown produce and
has increased purchasing of local produce from 8% to 23%, over a ten-year
period.
During the brief span of his tenure at UMass, Dining Services has been the recipient of 15 consecutive national awards from National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) from 2000 to 2008. Plus Best of the Show Award from Food Management magazine in 2008, 20th Annual Marketing ExcellenceAward 2008 fro Produce Business magazine, Sustainability Award 2008 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Restaurants & Institutions magazine this May named UMass Dining Services a winner for the 2008 Ivy Award, honoring the best foodservice professionals in the industry.
Ken, his wife Pam (Whipple) and their three daughters, Chelsey, Mandy and Cally reside in Hadley, Massachusetts.
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