Fall semester of 2025 is the first full semester for the new caterers at Chabot, Fresh & Natural. They have been in catering since 1993 at various locations, colleges, medical centers, government facilities and more.
Being their first full semester, both the company and the team on campus are still settling in. Thankfully, Minjee Kang, the new cafeteria manager for the BOM cafeteria, made time for us.
Understanding that everyone on campus is usually in a rush for their food, they chose to emphasize more grab and go options. They also plan to add anywhere from 10-15 new menu items in the near future.
The team also quickly realized the demand for the cafeteria to be open and extended their hours to better accommodate the campus community. They are now open Monday-Thursday from 7 A.M. – 7 P.M., with last call for hot food being at 6:30 P.M. They are also open on Fridays 7 A.M. – 2 P.M.
When asked about any possible exciting additions, Minjee said “if/when approved, we would like to add a self serve salad bar; as well as a boba tea station.”
For their choice on local ingredients, I offered a hopeful idea to utilize our school garden, thinking about their future sourcing. Minjee was hopeful but realistic, stating “Ideally it would be amazing, personally I would love to, but everything goes through a certain process; if ever approved by superiors, it would be a great resource.”
Wanting to learn more about the Fresh & Natural menu, I asked about any possible rotational menu options. Minjee mentioned that the company does rotations commonly in the winter with soups; offering daily specials with various size options. An exciting potential new item mentioned by Minjee, was the company’s capability of making Vietnamese pho soup. However, she did state that first they would have to evaluate the current cafeteria team to determine when/if it would possible to accomplish.
An exhilarating time for the campus and its new caterers, both Minjee Kang and Fresh & Natural are open to our feedback, comments or compliments at cc-freshnatural@chabotcollege.edu
