This semester students returning to college may notice a few changes when it comes to dining services: new dining hours, an oatmeal and yogurt bar, new signage, and a new food supplier.
Perhaps the most noticed change in dining services were the hours that dining services were open. Last semester, Smith worked to keep dining services open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. During meal times, the hot bar would be open with hot food, but between them students could get grab-and-go food from the scramble room. This allowed students and faculty to not have to rush to make it to meals on time if they had meetings or class. This semester, dining services is only open for limited hours for meals.
While some students and faculty understood that continuous service had ended because of a Watercooler announcement, others said weren’t prepared for the lunch hours to be cut to 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
“I was standing outside dining services at 1:05 p.m.,” Associate Professor Nicholas Johnson said. “And a lot of people, both students and staff members, were shocked.”
Johnson said he gets food from the scramble room several times a week. He said he didn’t feel that the new dining hours were communicated well enough. The dining room used to be open until 1:30 p.m. before continuous service began last year.
Students who get lunch on the early side said they don’t notice much of a difference.
“I feel like the dining room was always super packed right when they opened lunch,” said senior Angel Wysong. “It’s still packed at 11 a.m.. So I feel like there’s really not much of a change. But I mean, I do agree that it’s nice to have everyone all together.”
Staff said it was a desire to develop a student community life that played an essential role in changing hours. Assistant Director of Dining Services Aubrey Smith, who was hired two years ago, has been behind many of the changes to the student dining experience.
“The decision was made above us,” Smith said, “It was a request we had to comply with…The explanation that was given to me was that it was going to provide an opportunity for students to have more togetherness.”
Smith did not specify who made the decision.
For dining services team member Grace Flowers and other workers, the added break isn’t that bad. They said taking breaks between meals is a good opportunity to prepare better for the next meal time.
“[During continuous service] you had to stay at the register,” Flowers said. A worker needed to be ready to help someone pay, “instead of being able to stock stuff,” she said. Flowers added that the switch from continuous service “is helpful for the cooks as well, so they don’t have to worry about constantly having food available.”
The C-store and Piasa Pub hours are designed to fix the holes in the dining services schedule, Smith said. The Pub is open for breakfast until 10 p.m., so students can get food after the scramble room has closed. The C-store is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At any point during the day, students can go to one of them, though they don’t offer the same types of food.
Another change in dining is new signage.
“We got new signs put up around the scramble room,” said Flowers, “going in and out, over the drink line…there’s an enter only sign, meaning students and people should really only be entering through that entrance.” There are new display monitors put up as well, placed behind the hot bar to show prices, and near the entrance to show a menu. Smith said these were designed to help modernize the feel of the dining room.
“It looks a lot more professional now,” junior Dexter Mbwinja said.
As the Pilot reported last year, the department also has a new food supplier. Smith told the Pilot at the time, the idea was that the food from the new supplier would help cut costs and offer up a new variety of ingredients.
“I noticed they have oatmeal now, great change,” Wysong said.
Still, students say they feel there’s room for even more improvement.
Smith said she agrees, and is hardly done making changes. One such change she is hoping to make soon is bringing back the popular soft serve machine that briefly made an appearance last year.
“The one we had that we brought back was old,” Smith said. “Parts broke. We may be able to get or rent another one. We’re working on it; Looking at whether or not [we can] buy a new one.”
Dining Services staff are looking to improve for the future, Smith said to “make sure everyone continues to be fed right.”
Principia College President Dr. Daniel Norton, who may have more insights into why the change was made, was not interviewed for this article.
