Brochures for the next year’s dining plans will soon arrive in students’ mailboxes after months of collaboration between ARAMARK, the College, Dining Services and various consultants.
“We’re trying to cater to your lifestyles,” Senior Manager of Contracts and Project Management Jack Noon said. “It’s going to be neat.”
The new dining plan will replace the “block” plans that gave students a certain number of meals equivalent to $6 per week with “Club Meals,” which will give students a fixed number of meals to use at any time during the semester. For example, a freshman currently using the 10 blocks a week plan would instead have 170 Club Meals per semester.
The three Club Meal plans will also offer 20% discounts on “all you can eat” meals using declining balance, as well as an increase in the number of guest meals, among other changes.
Additionally, there will be four Club Declining Balance Plans offered next year, ranging from $1,500 to $500 per semester.
“We have taken away the bonus dollars and we replaced them with discounts,” Noon said, referring to varying levels of discounts dependant on the buy-in amount.
Students will also be able to exchange Club Meals for various combinations depending on the dining location.
Throughout the year, ARAMARK and dining services have been collecting information regarding where and what students eat on campus through surveys and workshops. Additionally, they worked with the Deans’ Advisory Committee in structuring the new meal plans.
“We had to be able to deliver a high-level experience,” President of the ECS Consulting Group Gene Kellogg said. “That was the thread that ran through everything.”
New services
In addition to the new meal plans, new dining locations and services are planned for next year.
A new deli featuring smoothies and Java City beverages will be placed in Hill Court next year.
“[We asked administrators] what is your dining philosophy,” Noon said. “It was very clear for the College – ‘We want community.'”
Douglass will offer “all you can eat meals” for lunch, while remaining a la carte for dinner.
There is also a possibility of moving the Meliora Express, which will be renamed the Club Express, to the Hive, where carts could easily be rolled away in order to continue to allow students to use the space as a recreational area.
“If we think it works, we’ll give it a shot,” Noon said. “I think we’ll [continue] to tweak things year to year. We’ve got some flexibility.”
Kellogg predicts the changes will be extremely positive. “I have been to over 400 college campuses,” Kellogg said. “This will be one of the coolest and neatest food service programs in this country.”
Schnee can be reached at cschnee@campustimes.org.
