By Ethan Shones and Michael David, with contributing reporting by Kane Harth, Txujci Yaj, Rowan Vercnocke, Sadie Gonzalez, and Sudi Adow
September 10, 2025
“That smell? It’s you guys,” says a football player to the rest of the guys around him.
Workers are cleaning the empty kitchen of the now-defunct camps cafeteria, and the rest of the school reeks as a result.
No one knows when there will be hot food on campus again.
The owner/operators of Wincity Campus Kitchen sit in the ECHO office and talk during an interview.
January 22, 2026
Icy winds batter the windows of RCTC’s third-floor cafeteria; inside, warm smells from the newly established WinCity Campus Kitchen fill the room. A stream of students pays for their hot and ready food; other students watch as their meals are prepared before their eyes. It’s a stark contrast to the Fall semester of 2025. Groups of students are sitting around tables, talking with smiles while enjoying the new food.
One student, Maggie, a nursing major, has just finished her first burger with the new vendor.
“It was good!” said Maggie, which just about sums up the general feeling of the place.
As of printing, WinCity Wings has opened two locations on RCTC’s campus: WinCity Campus Kitchen in the third floor cafeteria, which specializes in hot food from chicken to Italian beef sandwiches; and The Gilded Pour in the nursing area, a small coffee shop where students can get espresso, lattes, breakfast sandwiches, and a variety of desserts made in collaboration with The Velvet Oven Bakery.
The Grab N’ Dash Deli in the Heintz Center, which specializes in quick meals to grab and eat, like sandwiches, is still on its way.
WinCity Campus Kitchen operates from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Gilded Pour Coffee Shop operates from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Grab & Dash Deli in the Heintz Center, when opened, will operated from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Behind the scenes at RCTC, there has been a lot going on following the sudden shutdown and departure of the cafeteria’s last vendor, Twizt’d Café. First, an answer to a question on many a student’s mind:
The Cafeteria, Whatever Happened There?
RCTC has been working hard to fill the void that Twizt’d Cafe left, and to fill the bellies of students. But what happened to Twizt’d?
According to Kelly Pyfferoen, RCTC’s Vice President of Finance and Facilities, RCTC’s partnership with Twizt’d Café ended when the college chose to use an opt-out clause in the contract with the vendor, effectively terminating it.
This was due to a variety of reasons. One issue: students had provided feedback about pricing and lack of healthy options.
“Two years into the contract, we were just getting a lot of feedback from students that the prices were too high. They were very inconsistent in their offerings. There weren’t any healthy options,” Pyfferoen says.
“They had a combo thing, where, if you wanted three chicken tenders, fries and a drink, it was about $15, $16, which is not affordable for students,” says Natalie Dickie, RCTC’s Student Life Coordinator.
Some other reasons Pyfferoen listed for the termination of the contract include a lack of communication between the vendor and the college, as well as inconsistencies with leadership, understaffing, etc., saying:
“From a service standpoint, there was some issues there. They were very non-communicative with us, and so we just decided it was time for us to part ways,” says Pyfferoen.
RCTC was not the only junior college to have a similar ending with Twizt’d; both Alexandria and South-Central have had similar experiences.
How did RCTC Respond?
Between the closure of Twizt’d and the opening of the new cafeteria, Pyferroen worked tirelessly to ensure students had resources on campus for food.
“I would say it’s probably been about 10% of my focus this semester,” Pyfferoen said last semester.
The school put out a request for proposal (RFP) last summer and received zero bids, meaning RCTC would have no food vendor in the cafeteria space. Pyfferoen knew RCTC needed to pivot to feed the students, which is why RCTC has grab-and-go options in the campus bookstore (cup noodles, sandwiches, salads, and other microwaveable goods), more vending in the Heinz Center, and a larger portion of students using the Hive Supply.
Dickie reported that the Hive Supply has seen a major increase in students attending it and using it.
“At this point, we’re spending about $2,000 a week on food, so it’s, it’s, it’s getting pretty draining,” she said last semester.
However, there are questions regarding the prioritization of this issue, especially with more students taking classes online.
“We understand that it’s a need. It’s just trying to find the right vendor and somebody that can bring the food service to the students, which is hard in this city; there’s a lot of different competing venues, right? It’s hard to compete with a McDonald’s or a Kwik-Trip, right?” says Pyfferoen.
Meet the Gastons
The right vendor came in the form of Rochester locals and RCTC alumni Jim and Triveon Gaston, the father and son duo who operate WinCity Wings, a local food truck specializing in Chicago-style food. In our interview with Jim and Triveon, Jim stated he learned about the lack of a cafeteria when a customer mentioned looking into bringing their food truck to the campus. From there, he applied to be a vendor at the cafeteria, unaware that nobody else had applied, and got the job.
Friday, January 30, marked the end of what Gaston called a “soft launch” to test the waters and get staff comfortable with the job. Going forward, he plans to implement items such as hot dogs and a brand new Wincity Bowls system. The Wincity Bowls will consist of a rice base that students will be able to add lean proteins, greens, and other toppings and items to it.
“Put rice seasoning, soy sauce […]that’s the Asian bowl. But if you take it and put gravy onto the corn, that is more of an American bowl. If you put it on pasta with Alfredo sauce, now it’s an Italian bowl,” says Gaston.
The main anchor for WinCity, though, is their Italian beef sandwich, the sandwich Gaston says led him into culinary entrepreneurship in the first place.
When he moved to Rochester, Gaston couldn’t find one anywhere, he says. So he started making his own.
a Wincity Campus Kitchen Italian Beef Sandwich
What is a Win City Italian beef sandwich?
We’ll let the elder Gaston explain:
“It’s a thinly, very thinly shaved, Italian seasoned roast beef. Paper thin, if you can. And then you take the meat, before you come to serve it, and dunk it in the au-jous, real hot beef Au-jous, you make it from the drippings of the beef you cooked.
“And then you take a French roll. I prefer mine with American cheese on it, right on the roll. Then you drop the meat on there. Then it’s a mix of pickled peppers, jalapenos, cauliflower, carrots.
“It sounds crazy, but you put that pickled giardiniera on top of that sandwich. But before we put our giardiniera, I like to dunk the whole sandwich bread, everything right into the jous, and then sprinkle it with the peppers. And that’s it. Cheese, meat, peppers. That’s all you need.
“Then some people, they threw off initially, because it’s a wet sandwich. We can light dip it. We can even put the dip on the side for you. But a lot of Chicago people want it where, they got to eat it with a fork. You got to have a dip,” Gaston says.
The Gastons try to not make a face when someone orders their sandwich missing an element, but it takes effort.
You need all three components to get the flavor right.
“We won’t shame you. We’ll give you a suggestion,” says Triveon.
Tracie Lee, writing tutor in the Academic Success Center can attest.
She went and ate a beef sandwich last month. It took her about twenty minutes.
“They had quite the line. There were a lot of people waiting for food. The cafeteria itself wasn’t super busy.”
Why’d Lee choose the Italian Beef Sandwich?
“Because you can put the spicy peppers on it, and cheese. It looked amazing on the picture,” says Lee.
And how was it?
“Delicious. I got it dipped, so it was super messy, so I’ll get extra napkins next time. I actually complimented the chefs afterward, it was worth telling them how good it was… Seriously, though I would try one, they’re delicious.”