The university’s catering provision is exclusively contracted to Chartwells, the education arm of catering and facilities services provider, Compass Group UK & Ireland.
Commenting on DMU’s food service, the AVA judges said De Montfort University has shown "a real in-depth understanding of food and the future of food in their innovation and commitments."
Chartwells contract director Neil Satchwell said: “This award is deserved recognition for all of our catering team who work extremely hard to provide a superb catering service.
“Here at DMU we pride ourselves on providing a first class catering experience at the Riverside Café, Food Village, Simply Fresh Supermarket, Subway, Newarke Café, which serves our Costa brand, and finally the Kimberlin Library Café, which serves our Starbucks brand.
“We try to make sure that we are offering students what they would have at home or on the high street and I think that is reflected by us winning this award.”
The catering team has provided dinners for VIP guests including Leicester City’s former Premier League title-winning manager, Claudio Ranieri.
The five other academic venues shortlisted for the award were University of Strathclyde – Technology and Innovation Centre, Conference Aston. Royal Holloway, University of London, The Law Society, University of Sheffield and 30 Euston Square