September, 26th 2013
Clemson
University
Dining
Hall Improvement Initiative
Ashley
Ross
Seth
Ramsey
Will
Caswell
Executive Summary
The
Clemson Dining Hall Improvement Initiative is a proposal to increase the
quality of the student dining experience on the campus of Clemson University.
Many students who live on, and off campus, complain that the food in the main
dining halls, Harcombe and Schilletter, is not as appetizing as they would like. We are proposing a solution that involves
implementing a larger variety of food options, more qualified staff, as well as
improved gluten free dining. The improvements that we are proposing are
meant to be simple and easy to implement, and are not meant to be large,
ongoing and costly projects.
Table
of Contents
I.
Introduction
II.
Menu
Variety
III.
Staff
Qualifications
IV.
Cost of
Meal Plans
V.
Inter-Dining
Hall Competition
VI.
Improved
Gluten Free Dining
VII.
Conclusion
Introduction
A large
majority of the student body at Clemson University is not satisfied with the
quality of the food that is being offered by the on campus dining halls. Many
students complain that the food is not rotated enough, and that a lack of menu
variety keeps them from enjoying the experience of eating in the main dining
halls, Harcombe and Schilletter. In order to improve the dining experience, we
are proposing a wide variety of simple, low cost changes that will be easy to
implement at each dining hall. These solutions include new, different food
choices that offer variety to the menu, more qualified staff, and an improved
gluten free section for those with food allergies, just to name a few.
Menu
Variety
The
Clemson University dining halls do not have nearly as much variety as many
other top ranked public universities in the Southeast. Each day, no matter the
time, one can almost always enter the dining halls and find hamburgers, hotdogs,
corndogs, french-fries, and some sort of chicken at the grill stations. Moving
to the pizza areas, the menu is still simple and repetitive, consisting of just
regular cheese and pepperoni pizzas. When this menu is compared to the menus
found on the University of Georgia’s dining facilities website, it is obvious
that the Harcombe and Schilletter dining halls could be greatly improved.
Georgia’s menu is filled with different items like soups, pastas, prepared
salads, vegetarian and gluten free options, desserts, breads, etc. When viewing
the online menus for Harcombe and Schilletter, it is almost the exact opposite.
The majority of the menu in repeated each and every day of the week. A simple
remedy to this problem would be to look into what other schools are offering
and incorporate some of those ideas here at Clemson’s dining halls.
Staff
Qualifications
Another
way to further improve the Clemson dining experience could be to hire more
qualified culinary staff. For example, the University of Georgia, which is not
that far from Clemson, has award-winning dining services (Fry). Their culinary
staff has also won several awards (UGA Food Services, Culinary Team). One approach to get Clemson up to UGA’s standard
would be to raise the price of our meal plans, even just slightly.
Cost of
Meal Plans
Clemson
currently offers five meal plans. The cheapest of these plans costs $915 per
semester and is marketed towards upperclassmen and commuters who do not eat in
the dining halls daily. With a little more cash, someone could be bumped up to
one of four meal plans more suitable for full time students. These range from
$1550 to $1740 per semester, the most expensive being an all access 7-day meal
plan (Fall). Georgia, on the other hand, offers their students two dining
plans. A five-day meal plan comes at a cost of $1877 per semester ($3754 per
year), while a seven-day meal plan costs $1978 each semester ($3956 for the
year). For just $238 per semester more, students at UGA receive a greater
variety of high quality food prepared by an expert culinary staff (Meal Plans).
If Clemson were to increase the prices of their meal plans, then perhaps the
additional funds could go towards hiring a more qualified staff that prided themselves
in creating a memorable eating experience in the dining halls. The University
of Georgia has gone as far as designating a portion of their dining services
website as a “Dare to Compare” section, daring other universities to rise to
their standard of quality meals and affordability (UGA Food Services, Dare to Compare). At the moment, the
prices for Clemson’s meal plans are relatively low, which can be a good thing
because of the affordability factor. However, if low quality food, “clean”
dishes with food residue remaining, and very little menu variety are the only
ways to achieve this affordability, then perhaps it’s not worth it. If all it
takes is charging a few hundred dollars more for meal plans to get Clemson’s
dining up to the level it should be on, then there is no excuse not to act.
Inter-Dining
Hall Competition
If increasing the cost of meal plans is not a
practical approach because of reasons beyond our knowledge, then perhaps there
are other means that could be used to raise the level of the overall eating
experience here at Clemson. One solution could be to establish a sense of
competition and accountability between the main dining halls, Harcombe and
Schilletter. This could be achieved in a variety of ways. One way of doing this
could include implementing a panel of student judges who are a part of The
Tiger News, Clemson’s student run newspaper. These judges would sample food
from each dining hall and write an editorial review that would be included in
each weekly issue of the newspaper. Another way of establishing this
competition between the dining halls is to send out a weekly poll to the
student body via email that asks which dining hall they prefer based food
quality, cleanliness, and overall dining experience. In order to encourage
students to actually complete the survey, participants could be entered into a
drawing upon completion for a gift card of a set amount for a restaurant on
campus. In order to promote an improved work ethic among the dining services
employees, a “serving with excellence” award could be given out weekly. These solutions would be effective because
competition would push the staff to improve the overall quality in each dining
hall.
Improved
Gluten Free Dining
In
order to improve the dining experience for students who may have food allergies
that prevent them from eating foods that contain gluten, a better, larger, and
more varied gluten free section could be implemented in each of the dining
halls. When compared to a list of the top ten universities with gluten free
food, Clemson’s gluten free section is less than adequate. Georgetown
University, located in Washington D.C., boasts that all of its meats are gluten
free, not just those included in the gluten free section (The Top Ten). This
means that students with food allergies related to consuming gluten would be
able to eat any type of meat that is available in its dining halls. One way for
Clemson to improve its gluten free dining is to incorporate gluten free foods
into all areas of the dining halls so that students who cannot consume gluten
do not feel restricted to the foods that are in the area that is specifically
designated as gluten free. For example, at the desert section of the dining
hall, there could be a tray of sweets that are made with gluten, and another
without gluten. By doing this, Clemson would be helping students feel more
accommodated while eating in the dining halls.
Conclusion
By
making simple and inexpensive changes to the overall campus dining operation,
Clemson can vastly improve its on campus dining experience for its students. In
order to reach this goal, the University could make changes to the menu to add
a larger variety of foods, hire more qualified staff, encourage inter-dining
hall competition, and improve gluten free dining. This could be a means of
improving the University’s overall ranking among public colleges in the nation,
because it would make Clemson a more consistently excellent campus in every
aspect.
Works Cited
"Fall
2013/Spring 2014 Meal Plans." Welcome to CampusDish at Clemson
University! N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Fry,
Jeanne. "University of Georgia Food Services." About Us. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
"Meal
Plans." University of Georgia Food Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 26
Sept. 2013.
"The
Top 10 Gluten Free Accommodating College Campuses." Udis Gluten Free.
N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
"University of Georgia Food Services." Culinary Team. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
"University of Georgia Food Services." Dare to Compare. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
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