Survey finds students want more items on menu

Based on a recent survey of 70 GC&SU students, many wish they could eat anything from tofu to brownie sundaes all day, every day.

Sodexho, the on-campus dining hall, offers various food lines including Italian, International, Classic, American, Salad and Cereal. As large of a variety as this seems, many students wish for more choices. Close to 76 percent of the students surveyed would like to see more menu items offered at Sodexho.

“With me being a vegetarian, I felt that there were not enough vegetarian foods offered for the price I paid for my meal plan,” junior Karin Sund?n said. “I did not buy a meal plan once when I moved off-campus because of this.”

Not only do vegetarians have concerns with the variety offered at Sodexho, but people on diets share the same problem.

“I haven’t eaten at Sodexho in over two year because they only serve carbs,” Ellen Myers, a senior, said.

While the three week menu used over the last few years concerned students, the Sodexho staff has implemented a new 16 week menu rotation to offer more variety to students. In addition to the new menu, Sodexho provides “taste changers,” offering a variety of foods ranging from milkshakes to chicken wings in order to give students more variety, said Tom Thompson, area executive chef of the Southeast region.

Students also complained about Sodexho’s current hours of operation. Nearly 73 percent of the students surveyed said they would like for Sodexho to close after 8 p.m.

Student Stacee Dunlap said she has evening classes that last until 7 p.m. and is “unable to eat dinner.”

While Sodexho currently closes at 7 p.m., General Manager of Sodexho Neal Seigler said there are other alternatives for on-campus dinner, including Chick-fil-A, The Ice Box and Books and Brew which all also close after 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Majority of students polled said they would like Sodexho to stay open until 9:00 p.m.

The GC&SU Student Government Association is currently addressing this concern.

Rachel Hodge, vice chair of the Student Government Association, said that based on these results of a recent student surevey, changes could be implemented by next semester or next year at the expense of meal plan prices rising to balance the cost of these changes.

“The Board of Directors over Sodexho is very willing to work with SGA to accommodate student’s concerns,” said Hodge. “The best way for students to be heard is to fill out comment cards (located in Sodexho) with constructive criticism or even good comments, and the workers will reply.”

The survey was conducted by students participating in the mass communication program.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 18 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry