Response to student questions, requests and comments
2010-2011

Changes we made based on guest comments:


• Implemented YouFirst Program to focus on customer service
• Implemented Papa John’s
• Allowing paper plates instead of pizza boxes to reduce waste
• Additional Fruit Selections
• More special events and promotions featuring fruit
• Changed the menu to feature more home-style dishes
• Implemented Balanced U to promote healthier lifestyles
• Nutritional information nearly every food item available online
• Implemented Youfirst Program to focus on customer service
• Implemented Papa John’s
• Developing new ways to reduce waste and improve our carbon Footprint
• Allowing feta cheese as a side and not a protein on salads
• Allowing dressing substations at Wild Greens.

Q
I would really like it if we could have feta cheese on our go wild salads at Wild Greens. I know it might be a cost issue, so my suggestion is to count the feta as the meat instead.

A
We are happy to accommodate your request and make this a permanent option at Wild Greens.

Q
Your chicken sandwich is too expensive.

When we originally set our pricing and did comps, we were looking at providing a large, unprocessed grilled chicken breast similar to the one available at Chick-fil-A. This is premium product and we set the price for the year accordingly. However, what we were serving was not the product we originally planned for. We began providing a precooked chicken breast as our grilled chicken due to safety concerns. I apologize for our error.

The products we are currently using has been very popular and well received so we will not be changing our offering. Instead, we will continue to offer our current product selection at a reduced price. We will be lowering the price of the Rowdy’s Chicken Sandwich from $3.59 to $2.89. This will include the current precooked grilled chicken, the whole muscle crispy chicken and the whole muscle spicy chicken. The price is still higher than your value menus because its a better line of products. But the new price brings inline with other premium chicken sandwich places such as Chick-fil-A.

A
Thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention.

Q
Toothpicks. I would prefer a Martini Bar but since that will never happen, I need toothpicks to sound off the end of my meals.

Not a problem. We have ordered toothpicks and will make them available in all of our dining concepts.


Q
I am a parent of a freshman...speaking with other parents, we are curious if you are making fresh fruit and vegetables available at every meal. We don't see them listed per say on the menu. Example: bananas, apples (whole fruit).

A

Thank you for your interest and I can see why you would be concerned because we don’t post that part of our offering online. We however provide fresh fruits and vegetables at all meal periods. The online menu is not an all-inclusive menu because we provide so many items that we elect not to put them on there. One of these items is our fruit.

We provide a rotation of red and green apples, bananas and oranges at all of our retail locations. In addition, we have what we call veggie fries (green beans, carrots, celery and ranch or peanut butter) which are raw vegetables that are available in our outtakes locations. Raw fruit is $.99, or can be used as part of a combo instead of chips. Veggie fries are $1.59 and can be used as part of a combo instead of French fries. In addition, fresh cut fruit bowls are also available in our coolers and Chick-fil-A also offers a fruit cup.

At Towers Café, our all-you-care-to-eat concept, we offer at least 2 whole fresh fruit everyday, along with bananas and cut fruit in the morning. Towers also has a very large salad bar with a wide selection of fresh vegetables and fruit as well. The whole fruit is on the desert and bakery station. The mixed fruit salad is part of our cold prepared salad station in the corner by the grill.

In the morning the fruit is where the salad bar is at with yogurt, cut fruit and grapefruit.

 

Response to student questions, requests and comments
2009-2010

Q
I really enjoy the menu at Olive's. Today the salad/out takes section was not well stocked but I think it may have been a delivery issue as it seemed most things were not stocked in the outtakes area.

Several students and RAs have expressed they are unhappy about the switch in bread for the paninis. They have been told it was a switch made by the vendor but the students feel like they are not getting a good value with the new/temporary bread. They did not mind paying the price for the previous bread because they liked the amount of food they received for the price.

I have also heard several comments that it would be nice to have a sign for ordering and a sign for pickup for made to order items. Students get confused where to stand when ordering and picking up items.

On a positive note: everyone loves the employees at Olive's. They are all very friendly and professional!

A
I am not sure why there was a limited Outtakes selection. Delivery should not be an issue as we have begun making the items down there instead of delivering them. I will follow-up and make sure it is corrected.

As for the bread, we already switched back to the regular bread. Unfortunately, the overwhelming success of Olive's (and specifically the Panini's) depleted not only our Panini bread stock, but the stock of the supplier. Any bread served was only a temporary solution until our supplier could adjust their inventory accordingly.

As far as signage for ordering, there are already some in place. I will speak with Michael and Lydia about clarifying the ordering process.

Thanks for your input.

____________

Q
I am a student here at Southeast. I have a few questions that I have about dinner dining.

I have asked students what their views are on these places being closed for dinner time, and they have said, "I usually eat at Wild Greens. I enjoy eating tasty salads for dinner, but now I have to eat Chic Fil'A or a hamburger. I'm going to gain weight if this keeps up!" 

I am just concerned about everyone's health while living here on campus. The places that were the healthiest for the students are closed in the University Center after 1:30 PM, and the places I am alluding to are Hearth Stone, Wild Greens, and Skylight. I understand that their sales may be a bit more minimum than that of the pizza place, the taco stand, The Grill, and Chic-Fil-A, but those places are not as healthy as the places that were so suddenly taken away from us students. 

I have heard that Chartwells expects that we students would eat more often at Olive's, but if that were the case why is Olive's so expensive. When I eat out at a restaurant I have enough money for a drink and perhaps an apple or chips, because it is cash, but when I am dining at the university I am not able to do that at Olive's with one meal plan. A sandwich there costs a minimum of $5.49. How am I supposed to stay healthy with fruit even? I would like to buy an apple, but my entire meal plan is taken up by just one sandwich. 

Of course there is the Beanery, but the lines are far too long because nothing better is open. I think that it is putting a lot of pressure on Chartwells's workers if you ask me. Sure, the workers that are employed are predominately Union workers, and they are getting paid a hefty wage, but it is unfair to we students because of who runs our food services. One student said, "It's not about us anymore." We would like to eat things that we like and it be of good healthy quality and taste. We do not have money to go out and buy things to cook, and that is why we have meal plans. Our mothers are not right down the street from where we go to school anymore. We need good things to eat, and if students choose to eat unhealthily by going to Chic-Fil-A and The Grill that is their own fault, but for those of us who choose to eat healthily we would need a place that offers that at dinner time.  I hope that this letter finds a medium in the realm of this issue. Thank you for taking your time to read this letter.

A

Thank you for your input. We discussed your email in our managers meeting.

You are correct in that the sales data helps dictates the hours of each concept, along with considerable input from the Dinning Services Advisory Committee (DSAC). With the opening of Olive’s and its use as a late night option, we did have to scale back some concepts inside the University Center. This included the specific concepts you mentioned.

As always, the hours of operation we start out with may not be the same by the end of the year. We are always open to student and University input regarding hours of service and encourage you to attend the next DSAC meeting to share your thoughts and concerns. Part of the reason we made this switch was out of the desire for a late night option on the south side of campus. It is still unclear as to how this change meets the needs of the students and we are not sure at this point if it will be a permanent change. We are also open to suggestions. I encouraged you to share your thoughts on which stations you want to see open and which should be closed.

DSAC Schedule:
September 21 at the UC
October 19 at Towers
November 16 at the UC
January 25 at the UC
February 15 at Towers
March 15 at the UC
April 19 at Towers

We applaud your efforts to eat healthier on campus, and I suggest you also reach out to Laura Vollink nutrition@semo.edu. She is our staff dietitian and has plenty of suggestions on eating healthy. However I am a bit confused by your comments about Olive’s. The sandwich you mention, the (Panini or wrap), are the most expensive and the most unhealthy items we carry down there. The folds and flatbreads are a much healthier option and will fit into your meal plan.

In the mean time, we will be preparing extra Wild Green Salads and HearthStone meals and placing them in the Outtakes Cooler to help provide additional selections. I will also be working with Candice to provide nutritional info on our weekly features and maybe designing some new items for Accentos that are healthier. We tried to provide some HearthStone side items at the grill in the evening, but there was not a lot of interest (at least sales wise) for these items.

Thank you once again for making your concerns know to us and I hope you will be in attendance at the next DSAC meeting.

 

 

To submit questions or feedback about our services please e-mail trevor.sumner@compass-usa.com

Chartwells values your opinion.  Let us know how we are doing! 

We do everything possible to ensure you have a pleasant experience at any of our locations. To ensure the very best in customer service.  Our Absolutely! Customer Service Program, helps us to identify those employees that excel in the area of customer service and also provides us with an opportunity to teach and train every associate about the importance of customer service excellence.

Do not hesitate to contact us for any needs or questions you may have concerning dining on campus.  If you provide us with your contact information, we will be able to reach you in case we have any questions. 
 

For more information, contact marketing director Trevor Sumner at trevor.sumner@compass-usa.com

 
 

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