Aramark hopes to implement changes to food and services

Aramark’s proposed changes strive to improve the atmosphere and quality of food at Trinity

by Sneha Janardhanan

Aramark will present recommendations for changes in Trinity’s dining services to David Tuttle, dean of students and interim vice president of academic affairs, and Mark Detterick, vice president of fiscal affairs, on Nov. 19.

The two will then review the recommendations and decide whether to present them to the president.

“If it’s feasible and we support it, then we would take it to the president and the other vice presidents and see how it fits in budget wise with the many other competing requests for budget dollars,� Tuttle said.

Tuttle feels that making renovations to dining services should definitely be prioritized.

“The food system we have now is the same as what we had when I came in 1987,� Tuttle said. “It’s basically the same kind of lines in the Mabee Dining hall, the same kind of stations that we had in Coates, so clearly it’s time we take a look and put some resources into these areas and try to improve student satisfaction.�

If the recommendations get approved in the budget, they will be included on the budget for next year, which the Board of Trustees will vote on in January.

The recommendations that are currently being discussed cannot be fully revealed as Aramark doesn’t want to increase student hopes in case it gets rejected.

“One is that maybe updating the furnishings in Java City,� Tuttle said. “Another possibility would be maybe moving the convenience store down to Mabee and making Mabee more of a late night food service option for students, and then they could also use the facility more for students that are studying or different things like that.�

The recommendations of improvements are a result of research that Aramark has been conducting since late last semester. Its research includes how dining needs can be improved on campus, a process called market view that included online surveys, student focus groups, client interviews and professional visits by Aramark experts from other places.

“It’s a process where we assess the dining needs over the entire campus, and we do this periodically to assess the needs,� said Miguel Ardid, director of Dining Services.
According to Tuttle, focusing on dining services was one of the major areas he wanted to address as the interim vice president.

“I was looking at what are things that are friction points between the administration and students, so it’s not uncommon that dining services would be a friction point,� Tuttle said.

The first phase of the market view research included a campus-wide online survey where 287 students, faculty and staff chose to participate, according to Ardid.

“For the most part, students were very happy with the dining on campus,� Ardid said. “What we’re looking at is just enhancing that.�

The second phase used intercept surveys that obtained more in-depth data. According to Domingo Gonzales, associate regional marketing director of Aramark, Aramark used 10 iPod touches to walk around campus and collect data from 25 people at random in different areas of campus.

The third stage entailed focus groups.

“Those are a little bit more defined and consist of no more than 10 students per group, and we did five focus groups that were targeted towards different groups on campus,� Gonzales said.

Two of the focus groups were directed towards first years and sophomores, another two towards juniors and seniors while one was for everyone who was interested and had participated in the previous focus groups.

According to Gonzales, the focus groups mostly emphasized students’ dining needs and habits.

The campus was also separated into six different neighborhoods, and circles were drawn where the population density is generally high.

The six different neighbor-hoods were the first-year dorm area, the upper-class dorm area, athletics area, Storch area, Coates area and the Chapman area. This was done to assess if dining needs were where they needed to be, according to Ardid.

Trinity brought experts to campus to analyze the scene and make recommendations. The team took about three days to come up with recommendations, and was brought here two months ago, Ardid said.

“They had the architect come in, who looked at some of the minor renovations that this would take, and they’ve looked at the numbers,� Tuttle said.

Aramark representatives will meet with Tuttle and Detterick to go over the numbers and recommended renovations.

According to Tuttle, Ardid and he came up with five key values that are important for the students: quality, variety, value, health and sustainability.

“I think the biggest things Aramark needs to focus on are choice, change and convenience. If they make the proper changes to dining service this time, they should be able to combat menu fatigue, as well as make food accessible and fitting to students’ needs,� Kaitlin Wetherbee, sophomore and ASR senator, said in an e-mail interview. “These changes should be able to serve students long into the future.�

ASR has played a role in looking to improve Trinity’s dining services.

ASR sophomore senators, Jena Daggett and Wetherbee, were a part of the focus groups.

Daggett; Wetherbee; Tuttle; and Carolyn Becker, associate professor of psychology, visited United Services Automobile Association’s campus to observe their catering services and offerings for approximately 15,000 people who work there.

“We wanted to know how somebody else does food service, not in a college setting but it has to feed lots of people,� Tuttle said.

Tuttle said he felt it was important to have more healthy pre-packaged meal options so students don’t have to wait in long lines during meal hours.

Daggett also agreed that having quick food options was important.

“I thought that maintaining quick food options in Coates is very important so that students can grab food in between classes,� Daggett said.