North Central dining services has some new leadership this year, and with that, they have some new changes that are going to be made.
The new staff’s main goal is to upgrade all dining facilities. They’re looking to get some new equipment and start some new processes. The group believes that they must meet the needs of the students, so they decided to expand the menu and bring in new ideas.
The Cage and Kaufman have started to diversify their menus so that they can start representing all students’ cultures. With that, the staff also wants to emphasize more customer interaction.
Before the new staff started working at the College, there wasn’t a whole lot of customer interaction, so they incorporated the grill and pasta station to change that. Although there are more freshly made foods, it causes chaos in Kaufman with long lines, so this is something that will need to be balanced out.
In the future, they are looking to have a made-to-order deli rather than the self-serve because it’s more aesthetically pleasing and allows for even more customer interaction.
Angel Almodovar, the associate director of dining services, thinks the new deli will be more enjoyable because “everything is better when it’s made for you.”
Despite all the work toward improvement of dining facilities, students have questioned the quality of food served at select dining options on campus. Recently, there have been several instances when students have been served raw chicken when they attended either Kaufman or the Cage. Fortunately, the issue has been resolved. It turns out that the issue was the result of a bad product.
“We have discontinued use of the product and changed vendors as well as retrained all chefs on the proper cooking procedures for chicken,” said Josh Davis, the new senior director of dining services. “In addition, temperature documentation has been made available at all stations to ensure all chicken is properly inspected moving forward.”
The dining hall faculty plan on continuously improving the dining services across campus and “meeting and exceeding the needs of our guests,” said Davis.
They also want to work with food allergies more next year, and one thing they have available now is a new Kaufman app for smartphones that allows students to be informed of all food served at Kaufman. The app, provided by Chartwells, offers a detailed menu for every day of the week and month and shows ingredients and preparations of meals. “The health and safety of our guests is always our top priority,” said Davis.
North Central College Dining Services will be hosting a “Dinner with the Presidents” for student organization presidents and a few members of their executive board. The dinner will give student leaders on campus the opportunity to meet new members of the dining services management team, including Davis and Almodovar, and learn more about current and future changes in dining.
Organizations will also be able to learn more about collaborating with dining services to cater club events and meetings. “We want to make sure that everyone enjoys their experience here,” said Almodovar. “If we work together, it’s all a success.”
Davis also wants to embrace student employment in dining because he and his team are here to help give students skills. Students will even have the chance to provide feedback to help dining further improve their services.
The event will be held on Wednesday, April 4 in Ratio Hall from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
