The first Dine with the Director of the semester served as both a forum for students and an opportunity for the Longwood Dining/ARAMARK staff to share news. The dinner took place Thursday, Sept. 19 in Dorrill Dining Hall’s (D-Hall) Lewis Room.
Dine with the Director, which is scheduled several times throughout the academic year, is an event where students have the opportunity to discuss any Longwood Dining-related concerns or praises with Grant Avent, director of Longwood Dining Services, as well as Kimberly Thompson, district marketing manager; Gina DeMarco, marketing assistant and Thomas Sheppard, director of retail operations.
The student groups represented at the event included the Student Government Association, Peer Mentors, Lancer Productions and The Rotunda.
Thursday’s menu included the Longwood Salad, French cut chicken breast, rice pilaf, glazed carrots and vanilla bean torte.
Avent notified students of several upcoming changes in Longwood Dining. The newest addition to D-Hall’s Panini Station will be the TurboChef grill, which Avent said should help operations at the station run more efficiently.
After comments and requests from many students, Avent said there will be flavored coffee creamers available in D-Hall once again.
Finally, Avent said there will be a blender near the Fruit Bar so students will have the option to make their own smoothies every day.
Positive comments of the night included praise of the quality of the Home Zone meals and D-Hall menu in general recently.
Students referred to meatloaf as a meal they look forward to the most in D-Hall. The chicken nuggets and curly fries were also a hit. Thompson said that Longwood Dining could perhaps send campus-wide emails or messages on days when D-Hall serves students’ favorite foods.
However, there are some popular items students named that are not available every day, such as guacamole and pesto mayo at the Panini Station. Avent said he would look into adding these items, as well as others, more frequently.
Students also voiced concerns about the bacon in the omelets not always being real bacon. Avent said the salad bar bacon most likely makes it into the omelets on occasion, which he added should never happen and will not occur in the future.
Concerns about D-Hall’s desserts not always featuring labels also made it into the discussion. Avent said that there will be a bigger focus on labeling desserts.
The signs in D-Hall that indicate on which side the dish room is open during each meal seemed to have helped students a great deal. Students were also happy that photos of campus life have replaced the murals that previously covered the walls.
Avent also addressed students’ comments about chicken and corndog nuggets no longer being served at D-Hall brunch every weekend. He said Longwood Dining fell into the habit of serving nuggets every weekend because it was “easy,” but it is their priority to provide a variety of food to students.
Lancer Park North Campus’ Provisions on Demand (P.O.D.), which is comparable to a Sheetz or Wawa-type convenience store, seemed to be a popular commodity among the students. The current P.O.D. hours are 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. from Monday to Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Sunday. The P.O.D. is open to all students and the general public. According to Avent, Longwood Dining is monitoring those hours closely. He said that customers primarily go to the P.O.D. during the 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. hours from Thursday to Saturday, not during the week.
The students who attended Dine with the Director, however, appreciated these late hours and would like to see similar operating times at Lankford Student Union’s Lancer Café. The Lancer Café currently closes at 12 a.m.
Avent would like to give people access to the P.O.D. directly if they do not have keycard access to the attached Commons Building, instead of having them walk to the store’s rear entrance, as they must now. DeMarco asked the students if they thought most people knew about the back entrance. Many students said that people seem aware.
Students raised concerns about the tomatoes and avocados occasionally being too ripe, as well as the avocados being too expensive. Avent said he would take care of these issues. He did explain, however, that Longwood Dining must pay more for avocados during different times of year.
The Styrofoam cups available in Lancer Café and the P.O.D. are biodegradable, according to Sheppard, but Avent said he would look into replacing the Styrofoam cups in Outta Here, the to-go eatery in D-Hall, with a more sustainable material.
When asked about Longwood Dining’s ability to add or change food chains, Avent said these contracts are not difficult to change but are expensive because Longwood Dining must buy a franchise. The current options include Chick-fil-A, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Bene Pizza and Einstein Bagels.
Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for Student Affairs, also attended and asked students what food chains they would like to see in the future. Dunkin’ Donuts and Panera Bread were among the popular answers.
Avent said Dunkin’ Donuts is a possibility Longwood Dining is considering adding to the new University Center, slated to open in 2016. Avent has asked Panera in the past if they would like to come to the university, but he said the chain was not interested in the college market.
Students asked about the reasoning behind this summer’s soda switch from Pepsi to Coke. Pierson said Coke offered the university a better deal overall.
DeMarco’s final announcement was that this Wednesday, Sept. 25 is Birthday Dinner. This month’s theme is Hispanic Heritage Month.
Students still have the opportunity to express concerns and compliments at the Longwood Dining website. A Your Voice Counts online evaluation is now available to anyone who eats at Longwood Dining locations.
