Laura Anderson has never been one to get complacent.
During her nearly nine years as the assistant athletic director for performance nutrition at Colorado, Anderson has routinely looked for ways for the food services department to improve going forward.
In December, the eye toward the future was different from the past after CU hired Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders as the new head football coach.
“At the end of every semester, I’m adamant that we figure out something new to do the following semester,” Anderson said. “Even if it’s something small or something we fix.
“The biggest change (now) is just when you have a superstar as an employee and he’s going to eat down here every day, yeah, that ups the ante and brings the energy.”
The Prime Effect has been very real in a lot of aspects of the CU athletic department since Sanders was hired on Dec. 3, including with the food services provided to the student-athletes.
Anderson, executive chef Carl Solomon and the rest of that team has always provided top-notch services, but the bar has been raised by Sanders.
“I appreciate when people have really high standards,” Anderson said. “(Sanders) has very high standards on how things can be executed. I know my team also has very high standards, but everybody gets – especially at the end of about 24 weeks of grinding – you fall off a little bit. Now, it’s like, ‘All right, game on all the time.’”
Sanders’ social media team has posted numerous videos on YouTube of coaches and athletes going through the food line at the Champions Center and praising the quality of the food.
The quality has always been there, Anderson said, with Solomon leading the way.
“His culinary skill set didn’t change,” she said. “Carl’s been an amazing chef since day one.”
The quality is being highlighted more, however, and the entire operation is better than ever, with Sanders’ impact being felt.
“I think in some ways, we had become complacent (as an athletics department),” Buffs AD Rick George said. “I think the only way you get better is getting out of your comfort zone. In Deion’s case, he came in here and his style is different than any coach we’ve had and it’s gonna push people a little bit.”
Less than a week after being hired, Sanders ordered a smoothie from the smoothie bar in the dining hall. He ordered a popular blend, Anderson said, but it wasn’t made well and Sanders didn’t like it.
That immediately prompted Anderson and her staff to fix how they prepared smoothies so there would be consistency in the final product each time. They also added two new smoothie blends, including one called “Prime Time.”
“We made that specifically for Prime because at that point we figured out he likes really sweet stuff,” Anderson said.
So do the athletes. Defensive lineman Jalen Sami said that is one of his favorite additions to the cafeteria.
“They’re upping their game on the smoothies, so that’s pretty good,” Sami said.
The main menu hasn’t changed much, Anderson said, but there are additions, including tweaks to the smoothie bar, a burger bar, desserts and sweet tea.
“I think the sweet tea has been everybody’s favorite, for real,” women’s basketball player Quay Miller said.
Already in the works before Sanders’ arrival was the addition of a pasta bar, which adds more variety to what can be mixed in with pasta dishes.
“The food has always been great, but to have something else you can go to if you don’t really want what their main course is, that’s really nice,” freshman skier Luka Riley said.
The most impactful change, however, has come from Sanders’ insistence in a Dec. 9 staff meeting that CU will provide three full-service meals per day, rather than two (breakfast and lunch).
Implementing that change has been a significant challenge, because it required hiring additional staff in a hurry. Ideally, Anderson would have had a few months for that process, but Sanders wanted three meals per day to start when school resumed last month.
Hiring during the holidays was difficult, especially with the human resources department shutting down for the break. And, applications weren’t immediately flowing in.
“That’s where Prime made a significant impact was that he helped advocate for the performance nutrition department,” she said.
Sanders’ posted a video encouraging people to apply. Suddenly, applications poured in. Anderson, who hasn’t had any turnover on her staff in two years, is still in the process of completing the hiring and training of new staffers. That means that the existing staff has put in a lot of long days for the past several weeks.
The addition of a dinner service has already been impactful, however.
“With dinners pretty much every day, that’s a crazy resource to have,” sophomore skier Alexander Maurer said. “Some people (get out of class) later than others. I have a lot of homework to do, so being able to come here and grab dinner real quick is great. … It’s so convenient. And lunch is great as always, if not better.”
Sanders’ backing also led to additional funding for food services equipment. And, considering his high standard, the whole operation is running at a different level.
“There’s little things that you gotta tighten up within the operation,” Anderson said. “So all of that is really, really good. It just makes the operation elevated as much as possible.”
With all of the changes being made, students say the vibe in the dining hall is different.
“It’s just a lot more activity than it used to be,” Miller said. “Usually you’d see people like just doing homework, but now people are there eating and just hanging out.”
Chalk that up to the Prime Effect. Sanders is the fourth head football coach during Anderson’s time at CU and none of them have utilized the dining has all much as he has. It’s also the first time the full staff has frequented the dining hall and Sanders requires football players to have breakfast and lunch there.
Sanders’ promotion of the dining hall on YouTube hasn’t hurt, either.
“If coach is eating down here, then they better be seen eating down here as well,” Anderson said.
