By Kristen Misak
COLUMNIST
The past few months have been turbulent for Hofstra dining services. Thanks to activism from students and hard work from the dining services committee, Hofstra switched food providers from Lackmann Culinary Services to Campus Dining by Compass Group, reflective of a high disapproval rate of Lackmann.
This change has been widely appreciated and goes to show that Hofstra wants its students to be happy with the food that they’re buying and eating every day.
In general, quite a few of Compass Group’s alterations have proven to be advantageous to students’ campus dining experience. First of all, the expansion of daily Meal Deals across campus has made budgeting meal plans much easier for already stressed college students. The deals are clearly advertised and present more opportunities for students to maximize their meal plan points.
In addition, the new black containers offered at the Student Center are microwave safe, encouraging students to save leftovers and also reuse the containers. This serves as one of Hofstra’s many attempts at becoming more eco-friendly. Options campus-wide have been expanding and becoming unique, and the selection and quality of the food has improved greatly. Bits and Bytes’ 2mato, for instance, now gives students many more options for quick and easy food in between classes, such as the grab-and-go baked pastas.
There are some elements of the dining service change, however, that have not gotten such great reception. For example, the ease of ordering omelets with paper slips has now become overly complicated. The order slips were never an issue under Lackmann, but they present issues under Compass Group. Now, students are unsure if they are supposed to get their own toppings or not. The paper slip is not descriptive enough to streamline the ordering process, and when many students are getting omelets made at once, it can be unclear what belongs to whom.
The most disappointing change that came with the arrival of Compass Group was the loss of Nature’s Organic Grille, as it was one of the most popular dining locations on campus. Its replacement, Global Bowl, has had good reception. But Organic was loved by many students, and Compass Group should have taken that into account when deciding how similar to make the replacement.
In all, the food service improvements have been a welcome change from Lackmann. Hofstra dining services has worked hard to hear out the students and make their dining experience better, and it is much appreciated.
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