Continuing into their second semester as the University of Idaho’s food vendor, Chartwells has seen major issues concerning food variety and quality.
Previous food vendor Sodexo has seen its fair share of critiques during its time at the university. The switch to Chartwells was intended to better serve students’ dietary needs.
At the very beginning of the Fall 2021 semester, a majority of food locations on campus closed, leaving students with meal plans to mainly rely on The Eatery buffet-style cafeteria.
“It was hard,” freshman Kaelyn Perry said.
Perry is a freshman spending her first year in the Theophilus Tower. New to the university, Perry says she didn’t have many expectations at all.
“I walked into it blind, and I can’t say I was impressed,” Perry said.
Since the closure of the Idaho Student Union food court on Aug. 30, the neighboring Qdoba and True Burger have opened, but Chick-fil-A has yet to return. Previously, according to Auxiliary Services Marketing Director John Kosh, the goal was to reopen Chick-fil-A by late November.
Now it has been nearly five months since the popular location’s initial closure and there has been no new estimate as to when it will open.
“I’ve heard a lot (from other students) about Chick-fil-A,” Perry said.
As far as the university’s communication about several dining locations’ closures, a common phrase Perry has read is “we’ll be opening soon.”
“But what does soon mean?” Perry questioned.
With dining locations opening in phases last fall, some used the Boost app for online ordering. The use of the app has not been smooth in Perry’s experience.
“Extremely confusing,” Perry said. “One restaurant will say they’re online only…but then online ordering is not available.”
Perry found herself spending money outside of the university for food despite her meal plan. She ended last semester with many meal swipes left unused.
Perry found the quality of food at The Eatery particularly disappointing.
“Meat’s always dry, either undercooked or overcooked, under seasoned or over seasoned,” Perry said. “It’s been a consistent factor.”
Perry has an allergy to beans, a difficult one to manage as it is not very common. With unclear signage at The Eatery, Perry ended up having an allergic reaction.
“It was one of those days where the sign above the food did not match up,” Perry said.
Luckily the allergy was mild and Perry hadn’t eaten too much before realizing, but the experience put her off from wanting to eat there.
Despite her experience last semester, Perry cannot opt out or downgrade to a cheaper plan and is required to keep her meal plan for the remaining academic year.
The cheapest and most limited meal plan for $990 a semester, Tasty Bites, is not available to first year students. The least costly plan available is the On the Go Plan at $1854 a semester.
“It’s insulting,” Perry said.
Codi Linafelter is also a first year student living in the Tower.
“Coming in, I kind of had the expectation ‘It’s not going to be that great, but it’ll be edible,’” Linafelter said. “Quality of food-wise, I think it’s pretty much on par with what I expected… (but) quantity and diversity-wise, there is so much more to eat.”
Linafelter appreciates having a variety of options at The Eatery as well as the option for meal exchanging, swapping a meal swipe for dining dollars that allow students to eat at locations on campus other than The Eatery.
While Linafelter said she had positive experiences with dining overall, she has still had her issues.
“Last semester, the food was kind of weird. Sometimes you would get food that was super flavorful and just wonderfully cooked. Sometimes you’d get food that was undercooked,” Linafelter described. “Pizza that was really doughy, hotdog buns hard as a rock.”
Linafelter reflects on the previous value of a meal exchange at the Market convenience store, which has been limited.
“The Market used to offer using a meal swipe for the value of $9,” Linafelter explained. “Then they took that away this semester because they were losing so much money. In my mind, it pretty much means that the meal swipes we have aren’t actually worth $9 dollars.”
As a music student, days with long classes can make it difficult to grab a bite between classes with dining’s hours.
“I can’t go to The Eatery because they don’t open for dinner until (around) four,” Linafelter said. “I can’t go to anywhere in the ISUB because they are all already closed.”
Linafelter feels it is a minor inconvenience, but the issue is exasperated by inconsistent hours at some locations.
Eating at The Eatery, Sunday nights are the worst according to Linafelter, with a lack of variety available. She’ll grab a bowl of cereal before she gets food from the buffet.
“It’s like the things you find at the back of the fridge because you panicked and forgot to buy groceries that day,” Linafelter said.
With these issues last semester, Linafelter believes food has improved since.
“I don’t know what they’ve been doing differently, but they should definitely keep doing it,” she said. “I feel it’s steadily improving…I’m pretty happy with the food so far.”
As far as continuing with campus dining next year, Linafelter doesn’t plan on it.
“It’s over $2,000 for my meal plan, I could eat food that is more catered to my own liking for cheaper,” Linafelter said.
Linafelter’s roommate is a vegetarian and has a hard time with food selection. She is often left to either eat from the salad bar or goes off-campus.
Kim Howe is Idaho Eat’s director of marketing and guest experience. She explained that some difficulties have stemmed from supply issues, with shipments not coming in. This past week, Einstein Bros. Bagels and Qdoba have had to limit their offerings.
“We want to thank the campus community for their patience as we have experienced some temporary shortages in products at these two locations,” Howe stated. “Much like the nation as a whole, our supply chain is also recovering from the pandemic and we’re still experiencing shortages.”
Menus are being reworked at new locations and workers are being trained.
“We’re working hand in hand with our new team members to get them up to speed on menus, responsibilities and teaching them new skills. Some dining locations it’s a bit of a learning curve,” Howe explained. “For example, when I helped at Einstein Bros. Bagels earlier this academic year, it took me a few weeks to memorize the sandwich build, even with the cheat sheets.”
Particularly at The Eatery, methods are being refocused for better quality food.
“We’re focusing on small batch cooking and made to order offerings like omelets, eggs, and items from the grill,” Howe said.
As for goals this semester, the team is looking for student input to improve.
“We recently conducted focus groups to better understand students’ experiences with meal plans,” Howe stated. “In partnership with Auxiliary Services, we will be starting a Dining Committee and welcome all Vandals to participate and help create a better dining experience for everyone.”
Student feedback on campus dining can be emailed to [email protected] or sent anonymously by texting 208-618-2666.
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq