2008 Woodie Awards
Esker reopens, UC dining discontinues meal transfers
Josh Smith
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: News
After the power plant explosion closed Esker Dining Hall two weeks ago, the University Center began offering meal transfers to students with meal plans. It has since been discontinued because the university said the UC cannot handle a large volume of diners.
"We did that for an emergency situation to make sure we could feed the displaced Esker students," UC Director Bob Barry said. "It was a temporary situation."
In order to facilitate transfers at the UC, dining services had to transfer staff and groceries as well as alter menus to serve students as quickly as possible.
"We had to streamline menus to make things faster," Barry said. He explained the food students were being served was food from Esker and Drumlin halls, not the regular food served at the Down Under.
The biggest reason the university is not continuing transfers in the UC is because of small kitchens. The former UC had four kitchens while the current one has only two.
"We streamlined the kitchens to cut down on the costs of providing labor for dining services," Barry said. "When we downsized we knew we wouldn't be able to handle the volume of the old UC."
Barry said a small kitchen was the reason behind long lines where he said students waited up to 25 minutes to be served.
"It's a tiny kitchen," the director said.
Despite the long lines, students were willing to wait to eat at the UC.
Freshman Katie Maertz said she would eat at the University Center if meal plans were offered.
"Sometimes their food just looks better," Maertz said.
The reason for downsizing kitchen space was to save money. Barry said it costs less money because there is less equipment and staff to maintain. These savings are reflected in the cost of meal plans.
With the cost of food and resources rising, Barry said the university prides itself on offering the least expensive meal plan in Wisconsin.
"We are the lowest in the state and there is an eight percent gap between us and the next cheapest," Barry said.
The university will wait until the end of the year and begin collecting data to see if there is enough business to consider if transfers will be possible in the future.
"[Allowing transfers in the UC] could possibly take some of the pressure of Prairie Street and Drumlin," Barry said. "It was a good test for us to see if we can do meal trades in the future."
"We did that for an emergency situation to make sure we could feed the displaced Esker students," UC Director Bob Barry said. "It was a temporary situation."
In order to facilitate transfers at the UC, dining services had to transfer staff and groceries as well as alter menus to serve students as quickly as possible.
"We had to streamline menus to make things faster," Barry said. He explained the food students were being served was food from Esker and Drumlin halls, not the regular food served at the Down Under.
The biggest reason the university is not continuing transfers in the UC is because of small kitchens. The former UC had four kitchens while the current one has only two.
"We streamlined the kitchens to cut down on the costs of providing labor for dining services," Barry said. "When we downsized we knew we wouldn't be able to handle the volume of the old UC."
Barry said a small kitchen was the reason behind long lines where he said students waited up to 25 minutes to be served.
"It's a tiny kitchen," the director said.
Despite the long lines, students were willing to wait to eat at the UC.
Freshman Katie Maertz said she would eat at the University Center if meal plans were offered.
"Sometimes their food just looks better," Maertz said.
The reason for downsizing kitchen space was to save money. Barry said it costs less money because there is less equipment and staff to maintain. These savings are reflected in the cost of meal plans.
With the cost of food and resources rising, Barry said the university prides itself on offering the least expensive meal plan in Wisconsin.
"We are the lowest in the state and there is an eight percent gap between us and the next cheapest," Barry said.
The university will wait until the end of the year and begin collecting data to see if there is enough business to consider if transfers will be possible in the future.
"[Allowing transfers in the UC] could possibly take some of the pressure of Prairie Street and Drumlin," Barry said. "It was a good test for us to see if we can do meal trades in the future."
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Jim
posted 5/07/08 @ 12:15 PM CST
Wait... I thought the new UC was supposed to offer more dining options. How much money did they spend and they were decided to cut costs by having smaller kitchens? One more screw up by all those in favor of this "great" renovation project. (Continued…)
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