Student Food Committee Meeting Minutes
Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Location: Paresky, Room 220
Called to order: 6:02 pm
Adjourn: 6:39 pm
Minutes: Charlotte Clark
In Attendance:
Temesgen Araya Ben Hearon
Lisa Champagne Katherine Melkonian
Gayle Donohue Allison Li
Mark Thompson Adrienne Joe
Jerry Byers
Molly O’Brien
Charlotte Clark
Ben H. – Christian will not be in attendance.
Katherine M. – Has been abroad in Denmark and will be joining us this evening.
Lisa C. – Lee After Dark is closed for Winter Study, it has been moved into Whitman’s Late Night. They won’t have the whole menu, but a majority of the items.They have switched the monitors over for the menus. If you’d like to use tickets, just order and go to the station. Retail items will be at the Smoothie Station.
Ben H. – There has been confusion. A sign at Lee would be helpful.
Jerry B. – Signs have been placed on the ice cream machine at Lee and at one other location to let students know.
Gayle D. – Suggested a note on the dining website.
Katherine M. – Daily message would be helpful to get the word out.
Temesgen A. – Signage is being used for this short term change in programming. If it was a long term change, we would announce it in the Daily Messages.
Ben H. – Is this change something that will be changed permanently in the future?
Temesgen A. – This is just a pilot. Spring semester will be going back to normal programming. Lower guest counts during Winter Study allow for this move to happen.
Gayle D. – The burritos have moved to the 82 Grill.
Lisa C – Yes, they have been moved to 82 Grill so they have the proper equipment to make them (turbo oven).
Jerry B. – This allows them to be customized by students.
Adrienne J. – Net nutrition website has been faulty. It doesn’t show the proper interface when you try to load it. It’s been very hard to navigate. Wondering if this is a system issue? A net nutrition issue?
Jerry B. – Due to server upgrades and problems with Windows systems. They are working on a fix, and there will be a server switch on Friday. This may help with the problems that we’ve been having.
Temesgen A. – OIT is shutting down the system for 2 days after the upgrade. It could possibly need more work after it goes back online.
Adrienne J. – The ciabatta at Whitman’s lunch is very popular. They only have it Tuesday and Thursday. Students would like to see it more often.
Mark T. – We’ve been working on sourcing some new products. Some that are included are a new line of tomato products and a new olive oil blend from California. We will also be working on formulating a new marinara recipe to use in our dining units.
Mark T. – we are also looking at some new soup bases that are all-natural and made from meat products. They have less sodium that our current bases. This would mean modifying our soup recipes.
Mark T. – We are working with the Board of Health about squash preservation.
Gayle D. – Vegan soups would obviously have to be made differently. There is a new vegetable base?
Mark T. – The vegetable base will be a mire poix base, it is very flavorful.
Gayle D. – The Skidmore ACF competition is this week. The Williams Dining team will be competing.
Mark T. – Managers voted for staff members to participate. James Guiden, Bridget LaValley, James Butler and Aaron Charbonneau will participate. They will compete with 12 other teams to prepare a 3 course meal for judging. They’ve had a few practice runs and are very excited.
Charlotte C. – (to students) Anyone been to Mission yet? (student response: no)
Charlotte C. – Okay, then I have nothing to share. Let me know what you think of our upgrades and changes once you visit!
Ben H. – The baked sweet potatoes at Mission & Driscoll have been great. Students love them.
Ben H. – The blinds at Mission are very dark.
Charlotte C. – The automated system for our new blinds is not working, but we got them up today. Should be repaired very soon.
Ben H. – People are liking the well seasoned cauliflower.
Ben H. – A friend that is allergic to eggs and milk is finding it hard to eat at Meatless Monday at Driscoll and would like more vegan dishes.
Molly O. – Spring menus are coming soon. We’ve got all new meatless Monday meus and some new vegan options coming. Would love to talk to the student if possible.
Ben H. – It’s Will Spollen.
Molly O. – We already have a meeting set with Will.
Ben H. – Is Grab & Go open until 5pm?
Jerry B. – They are open until 2pm.
Ben H. – It’s been reported that the orange juice at Mission is watery.
Charlotte C. – Our machine is being serviced tomorrow. We are trying to fix the problem asap.
Ben H. – Nuts for the salad bar would be enjoyable for many of us. Candied nuts and more selection of cheeses. The apple and kale salad at Driscoll is awesome.
Temesgen A. – We have to be careful because of nut allergies. Nut products are located at our Nut Stations for safety.
Charlotte C. – We have 2 nut zones at Mission Park. One is the table in the dining room, and the other is our GF room.
Gayle D. – Vegans need nuts as a source of protein, that’s why we ended up expanding the nut selection at Mission in the GF room.
Ben H. – Dried apricots and nutritional yeast are a hit. They’ve been out of stock at Driscoll.
Molly O. – UNFI delivers these items to us. They only deliver on certain days, and their deliveries are hit or miss. They should be back in stock soon.
Adrienne J. – Real food day was very popular. Can we recreate more often? Or incorporate this menu throughout the year. Congratulations on a great job.
Gayle D. – Earth day – perhaps we can work some of the recipes into this.
Adrienne J. – I imagine there is alot of work involved in this meal.
Temesgen A. – On the Real Foods dinner we tested out a centralized kitchen idea. It didn’t work as well as expected, but yes there was alot of work involved in this meal.
Temesgen A. – We have many theme dinners throughout the year. We are trying to cut down on some of the specialty items, and use the funds to help improve our daily service for our guests. My vision is for purposeful decisions and menu design for the upcoming year.
Mark T. – A lot of the vegetables could be used when they are in season. We have to capitalize on them when they are available. We are trying to target more cost effective local options.
Katherine M. – I like the Paresky vegan station because of the fresh vegetables. Would love to see more fresh vegetables in the regular service area.
Temesgen A. – We are looking at the flow and logistics of the space at Whitmans. We’d like everyone to be able to see the options presented to them more clearly. Things give the appearance of being hidden at times, and moving some of the pieces around to be more visible would be helpful.
The meeting adjourned at 6:39p.m. The next meeting will be held at Driscoll Lounge at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 4th.
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