Eric Rehmann, executive chef of dining, leading the meeting. Photo by Hannah Fink.
The meal plans for 2020-2021 may look different, both in the amount of swipes and the price tag you’ll be paying for it, say the officials at the WCU dining services. At the latest meeting of the WCU Dining advisory board on Oct. 23, they also covered bugs (again), safety, and various customer service complains.
Representation from SGA, resident halls counsel, vegan/vegetarian club as well as nutrition and dietetics major program were all in attendance to voice their concerns.
The progress on bugs in the cafeteria seems to be moving in the right direction. Over fall break, dining switched pest control providers.
“It’s been a battle we’ve been fighting. A new company came in and did a lot of work and gave a lot of ideas. It’s moving in the right direction,” says Eric Rehmann, executive chef of dining. He also said to expect serious and drastic changes, rapidly concerning bugs.
A new change discussed at the meeting is a proposed meal plan for 2020-2021. For the next academic school year, instead of a 125-block plan and a 65-block plan that is currently in place, it will be replaced by a 150-block plan. This new plan presented by the general manager of WCU dining services, Mike Doppke, will combine both meal swipes and exchange meals into one swipe method of 150 swipes and DB of $535. This will cost $1765, which cost less than the 125 block but more than the 65 block. Allowing more meal exchanges with this plan was liked by many students at the meeting. One student even said they wouldn’t mind paying a little extra to get up to 150 meal exchanges.
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“We are contractually obligated to raise the prices every year via Aramarks,” said David Rhode, WCU student body president. This is a yearly change that goes in affect depending on how the new meal plan is changed.
While meal plans are changing, so is security at dining. Another issue mentioned at this month’s meeting was brought up by a Steak & Shake employee was that it is scary at night during the 3rd shift, due to intoxicated people coming in. There are new signs that say no alcohol on the premise, but that doesn’t seem to be working. Rehmann informed the employee that in those situations it’s best to “ask the intoxicated person to leave and if they don’t call 8911.” Doppke will be talking to the police chief this week to get patrol on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at Steak & Shake.
Brought to action from the last meeting was the issue of customer service at places such as Moe’s. Rehmann said he spoke with the management and associates at Moe’s to address the problem. Moe’s associate was terminated from the job as an outcome of this. The next complaint was about Courtyard’s Starbucks and the lack of customer service, which they are working to pinpoint certain employees who may be causing this issue.
Other changes include changing Moe’s’ hours by closing earlier.
“Nothing is free. As we shift, we added breakfast at Brown, so we pushed Moe’s back to balance operational hours on campus,” explained Doppke. And as the weather gets colder, Chilis will be closing their patio soon for the winter season so enjoy the last few days while you can.
If you’re interested in voicing your opinion about on-campus dining, the next meeting will be held Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. in the Brown Hall Conference Room.
