Western Carolina’s students and dining services discussed bugs, money and new ideas and offerings for food in 2019-2020 school year during the meeting on Sept 25.
Six Western Carolina employees and over 25 Western students representing Resident Hall Counsels, SGA, and nutrition and dietetic major were all in attendance to the open forum.
The bug situation on campus at certain dining locations is an issue that is looked at very seriously said the general manager of WCU dining services, Mike Doppke.
Mike Doppke giving the opening remarks to the first dining service advisory board meeting Sept. 25, 2019. Photo by Hannah Fink.
“This is not a sanitation issue,” said Doppke. He explained that the environment we live in is bound to have bugs and when it rains or gets cold, the bugs try to find a warm or dry place. Every food facility on campus is inspected four times by a third-party inspector and the facilities have passed every time. Panda Express, Moes and Comfort Corner just received a 98 or above on their last inspection.
However, Doppke said that dining services have just recently severed connection with their pest control and a new provider will begin in a few weeks. He believes a new provider will help “head in the right direction” when it comes to the bug issue.
If you were wondering where your money for food was going, Robert Walker, director of campus services, said that last year Western’s dining spent $315,000 on equipment and repair. This year, they’ve already spent $37,000 on a new pizza oven for the Courtyard Dining Hall. This will help improve the speediness and quality of the pizza, which was a topic discussed last year at these meetings.
Something Western students, especially those living up on the hill, have wanted is for Brown to be open on weekends.
“Everything costs. If collectively people want to pay more, we can be open,” says Keith Corzine, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs. According to Corzine, less than half of the residential population stayed on campus during the weekend at the end September, proving it would not be economically smart to have Brown open on the weekends.
Other topics discussed include the new food truck. According to Eric Rehmann, executive chef, “we will be tweaking the food truck menus.” Rehmann said there were some entrees that no one has ordered yet, so the menus will feature some new options in the future.
Rehmann also talked about the chef takeover in the Courtyard and Brown. “It’s a way for us…to take over a station and serve you upscale fine dining,” says Rehmann.
This happens once a month, the last one was held in Brown this past month. It served salmon Rockefeller and rib-eye and the event had an attendance of about 800 people. The events are advertised in the dining hall and on Western’s dining social media pages.
If you’re interested in voicing your opinion about on-campus dining, the next meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. in the Brown Hall Conference Room. This was the first of three dining service advisory board meeting of the academic year which will all be held at Brown Hall.
