BRIDGEWATER, Va. – At the Feb. 9 management team meeting, Bridgewater College dining moved to ensure food remains out later in the day and add service lines on busy days.
Both of these changes were in response to expressed student concerns. The committee meets every Monday and Friday at 3 p.m. for approximately 30 minutes, giving students the chance to to engage with Adrian Taylor, the general manager of the dining hall, as well as other staff members.
Taylor said he created these committee meetings to make sure the students’ voices are heard and to make sure the students attending the meetings will keep coming back and bringing a friend.
“Our goal is to have a nice size group, and continue to grow,” Taylor said. “If you hear someone talking about anything related to dining, you should invite that person to these meetings because this is the best place for them to have one-on-one conversation with myself and other staff members.”
BC student Tracy Inskip has been attending these meetings and believes the students’ voices are heard when requests, comments or complaints are submitted.
“I see them take notes during the meeting,” Inskip said. “I’ve seen some of those changes get adjusted and implemented.”
The meeting started with a recap of what was discussed from Friday, Feb. 6. One of the topics that was discussed from Friday’s meeting was students complaining that food was being taken out of the service wells before 8:30 p.m.
This is a concern for any students if they have any evening classes, sports practice,games or other events, causing them to miss dinner around the normal dinner time and have dinner later.
“The action we did was to communicate with the kitchen and staff to make sure that there’s food available until 8:45,” Taylor said.
A student at the meeting asked about having two lines to ease traffic flow on days Divine Asian Cuisine (DAC) takes over the Mongolian Grill station during lunch time. This would be helpful for any students who have a short lunch period before class and would want something from DAC.
“It can happen,” Taylor said. “That is a third party company we’re working with so it will happen.”.
Taylor also discussed upcoming events in the meeting. One event that was discussed was guest chef Mikey Reisenberg, owner of the Korean inspired restaurant Mashita, who will be taking over the Mongolian Grill station during lunch time on Thursday, Feb. 19. More details can be found on the bridgewatercollegedining Instagram page. There will also be a guest chef serving sushi on Friday, March 20 during dinner.
The BC Student Association sent an email to all students on Jan. 30 providing a summary of feedback from the dining committee. Meetings took place between November and January.
