By Erika Norton | Echo
Video Reporting by Kari Travis | Echo
Video Produced by Kevin Schillinger | Echo
From the soft-serve machine debacle to the new hamburger line, sophomore Maddie Schoenherr, along with other students, has noticed the recent changes in the Dining Commons.
Schoenherr faces special difficulties, especially since she is intolerant to foods containing gluten and dairy.
"I have a hard time eating regular food line items because they're just not labeled very well," Schoenherr said. "Anything that's fried, I'm supposed to stay away from because I was told it was fried in the same thing (oil) as breaded things, which shouldn't be a big deal, but the DC fries a lot of things."
Though Schoenherr's dietary situation is unique, many students feel the same lack of diversity in food options, especially when compared to the menu available last year.
"In general, yes (the DC has less options)," Schoenherr feels. "I think that when they took out the one line (The Globe), a lot of the variety went away."
Matthew Riley, director of dining services, discussed the reasoning behind some of the changes that were made this semester.
"I wouldn't say you necessarily have less options, it's just that all of the options are still there, they might just not all be out at the same time," Riley said.
Riley explained how the food that was offered at The Globe (the international food line) and The Well (the "wellness" and healthy food line) which were both taken away this semester, is now mixed into Chef's Corner and the Homeward Bound (home cooking) line.
"There were only a handful of students that utilized that area (The Globe) as well as with the Wellness area," Riley said. "We were throwing away an awful lot, and that's why we looked at moving the burgers there and incorporating The Globe and The Well in other areas."
The biggest reason behind moving the hamburger line to where The Globe used to be, according to Riley, was to increase the quality of the burgers being offered.
Riley explained that when a student came up to get a burger, they would take a pre-cooked patty from a steam well, put it on the cooktop, and melt cheese on it.
"There were times where. . . it was 30 to 40 minutes from the time it (the burger) was cooked to the time the students got it," Riley said.
Riley also admitted that due to health codes, they had to discontinue heating the burgers right there.
"Health code won't allow us to cook burgers without a hood system, so we needed to do something anyway because we couldn't cook the burgers out front anymore," Riley said.
The DC decided to switch to fresh burger patties, which allows for seasoning and less time sitting out. Riley shared that the hamburger line is in "phase one" of a larger vision to make the line more like a Fuddruckers or a Smashburger with a greater variety of toppings.
They plan to start this process next semester, according to Riley. The soft-serve ice cream machine has also been an ongoing problem, but it has been fixed and Riley hopes it stays that way.
Dean of Students Skip Trudeau feels any negative student perceptions of the DC changes are due to a lack of communication.
"Being self-critical here a little bit, we haven't done a very good job of communicating that and/or convincing students that this is a change for the better," Trudeau admitted.
Riley also mentioned a possible new concept for "Chef's Corner," the food line in the middle of the DC, by adding things such as cold plates, entree salads, homemade bread and vegetarian options. To help address student concerns and see what students want to eat, Riley said they are in the process of forming focus groups made up of students and staff.
"We want to use focus groups to to start testing some of the potential food we would serve out of there (Chef's Corner) because if we discover that no one really likes it, we're not going to waste too much more time to try and develop a full concept," Riley said.
They're already trying to do a lot of new dishes at the Chef's Corner, said Riley. Chef de Cuisine Megan Jeffers has been asking people what they'd like to see to try and provide more food variety.
"We've had a number of global and international influences there (Chef's Corner) because a lot of those students have said to Megan, 'I'd love this type of dish that I used to eat at home all the time,' and so Megan does the research and figures out what she's going to need to do to make it," Riley said.
This week, the Chef's Corner served a lot of seasonal cuisine, including dishes with pumpkin, fall spices and cold weather vegetables. On Wednesday night, there were ballpark-style hotdogs and last night, to celebrate Halloween, there were apple dumplings, candy, a chocolate fountain and a caramel fountain.
"That's where some of that variety comes in," Riley said. "You get tired of seeing the same thing over and over so let's do something a little different."
Riley said that they hope to start a new allergen program next semester, which will provide allergen information for every item that is served in the DC as well as the Grille.
"You can't just tell (the ingredients) from looking at things . . ." Schoenherr said.
