In Attendance: Paula Amols(Director of Dining); Alex List; Anna Hall; Kaylee Hulbig

Student Dining Committee

4/12/16

Notes

In Attendance: Paula Amols(Director of Dining); Alex List; Anna Hall; Kaylee Hulbig

Paula gave dates for upcoming events:

April 20th, 6pm, Hot Wing Eating Contest

April 27th, ISO Dinner

May 3rd, Dinner With The President

May 8th, 9pm-11pm, Almost Midnight Breakfast

Comments that the hot line at Winslow was cleaner than initially with the switch to self-serve, there always seems to be an attendant on hand to keep things clean. Students also noticed and seem to like the reversal of the order of the food, i.e., the proteins are last in line.

Other feedback:

A request for blue cheese dressing in T-Room(update: T-Room manager Kelly Buckingham said they were carrying it in individual packets but went so through few of them that they went out of date. What she will do is keep a small bottle of it in the refrigerator at the salad bar, available upon request, and we would put up a sign to that effect);

A request for bagged popcorn, especially Skinny Pop, at Fast Track. Paula let everyone know that there was Skinny Pop currently at Market ’22(update: the Skinny Pop at Market ’22 is sold out, but Chef Tim has the information now on how he might be able to get it for Fast Track, and will check to see if it is a viable option);

More prepared salads at Market ‘22(update: it’s not clear if that meant more variety, or they had run out at some point, but Kelly did say the Chef Salad wasn’t selling that well lately, and she was going to try a strawberry salad to see if that sold better);

Where has the popcorn shrimp in T-Room gone, used to see it every other week(According to Kelly, T-Room had the popcorn shrimp during Lent. It had been on the 3-week cycle menu, and Feb. 4th was the last time they served it. She said they could put it back on, but it will probably be less than every 3 weeks. I told her to do that starting in the fall, this semester is almost over);

Don’t mix the green and red grapes in the T-Room(Kelly said the grapes have been sold separately since last fall, so don’t know why we had this comment);

Students miss the honey almond chicken at Winslow(Chef Tim said they could add it back in);

More proteins in the lunch boxes at Market ‘22(we took that to mean larger portions of the proteins, e.g., chicken salad. Kelly responded that if the portion sizes were increased, it would also increase the selling price considerably. What is sold at Market ’22 is intended to be quick and light, and portions and prices reflect that. But she did say that she was going to put a comment box in Market ’22 so that students could provide direct feedback, and also provide ideas for other products/items they would like to see in the fall);

Could there be 2 ketchups in each dining room, they run out more than the other condiments and aren’t always monitored. Paula asked which of the others would they be willing to give up, since space is limited. Some said the hot sauce(Chef Tim would prefer not to eliminate the hot sauce, especially since he just got in a new one that he expects will be popular. For now, he will have it monitored better, and in the fall when we have a better idea of how the budget crisis will affect the 2017 renovation at Winslow, which is currently on hold because of the budget crisis, we can look at some possible modifications to provide a better set up for condiments);

More variety of fresh fruit, particularly pears and grapes;

Fountain beverages at Fast Track(this did not prove to be a good seller when it was available many years ago, and right now there isn’t a spot to put it if we wanted to try it again);

Could there be melted cheese out all the time? Paula said it had been available last year, in response to requests for it, but it didn’t get used enough to justify continuing to offer it. She said perhaps they could try one of those “nacho cheese” pumps, and see if it proves more popular;

What happened to the red juice in the juice machine, there’s a different one in its place and students don’t like it as much;

Towards the end of dinner at Winslow, the dining rooms seem to be messier and student workers aren’t as attentive to things, also they let food run out on the lines(Chef Tim will remind the student workers that customers coming in towards the end of dinner should have the same experience as those coming in earlier, and will also make sure the professional manager is monitoring the server more closely);

A tall male worker with long hair and facial hair was rude to a student when she asked a question about a menu item(Tim knows who this worker is and will speak with him about this);

Mixed comments on the evening cashier at Winslow—some really like him, some think he’s kind of “flirty”. Paula let them know he had already been spoken to about what is and isn’t appropriate to say and do, because a student worker in the Dining office had made similar comments to her about his flirtatious behavior.

Next meeting is 4/26