Dining services. We all have our opinions, some good and some bad. With all the construction going on, we’ve lost some dining options and gained others. The commons quality may have dropped a little, but now there’s a food truck that students have seemed pretty interested in. Two questions that seem to linger are: What’s changed, and What can I look forward to next year? To answer these questions, I met with the Senior Director of Dining Services, Barbara Stolz.

What has changed?

The commons participates in “batch cooking” which means they cook small amounts of food as needed. This process is used to keep the food from going bad during lulls in the number of students that come to eat. Since the temporary kitchen has come into effect, the commons makes more batches with smaller amounts of food in an attempt to further preserve the quality of the food. They also use “hot boxes” to keep the food warm.

The temporary kitchen is not in the same building that the food is served. This brings up a question about whether or not the food is kept sanitary when it is being transported. I was told that the food is covered during transport in order to keep it safe.

What changes will we see?

The beloved food truck will be gone in the fall! It was being used as a temporary solution to accommodate for the construction happening in the CUB. Once the construction is complete the commons will be able to fully support the student population, so we won’t need the food truck anymore.

We’ll get our coffee shop back! The coffee shop will return to the space where the commons is currently serving food. This new space will be completely renovated and will include a new seating area.

More dining stations! With the new renovations, there will be more space in the commons. This means that there will be more stations with more food options. Among the potential stations are: home cooking, comfort food, a char grill, and more vegan and vegetarian options. There will also be a new stone pizza oven!

Will Johnny Rockets still be here?

There have been rumors that the Johnny Rockets contract is ending, and a new establishment would be replacing it. Unfortunately, this wasn’t confirmed. Dining services says that a lot of thought goes into decisions like these and no decision has been made on this subject.

How can you be involved in dining services?

Surveys! Dining services distributes surveys to get student feedback on everything related to dining services. Keep an eye out for the next survey!

Students are also able to be a part of the dining committee. The dining committee meets to help dining services get input on student opinions. Ask dining services to get involved!

Here’s to hoping that these renovations bring us some new and improved dining options! Stop by the CUB in the fall to see the final renovations.