Better Food, Better Meals, Better Life! Dean Dining Takes A Major Turn

The Smith Dining Hall during the school day, with students grabbing and eating food as they speak with others. (Cover Photo Courtesy of Colin Cleary)

Dean College obtains a new food partner that changes the way food is served. So, what makes them so special?

The dining hall at Dean College seems to be a lot livelier this semester. Students are always finding chances to go, whether it is in between classes or after practice. The big question is, why?

The answer lies within their new catering company, Aramark. They began serving food for the first time this year, replacing the old company, Sodexo, as Dean’s food provider. However, trying to figure out what makes this new company better is like finding a needle in a haystack. Luckily, the answer is right under your nose.

While in the dining hall, I talked to everyone’s favorite staff member, May. She had a lot to say about the changes in the dining hall. “I’m very, very excited about getting back and seeing the students and there, um, reactions to the different things that this company is offering and the redecorating and the new colors that we have. So, I’m excited to be---working with and working out everything that they need to do.” She seems very excited about how the changes are going to affect all of us as students and how we react to them.

So far, the staff seem to believe that what makes Aramark special is how much of an impact they have on the students. However, what do the students think. To find out, we talked with some students about their opinions on the matter. One student named Sebastian seemed very pleased about the dining hall food. “The food is a lot better this year and the selection is different. It’s like a whole new thing and I freaking love it.” He is very happy for the new change of pace and loves the idea that he can get a wider variety of meals.

However, that is not true for all students. An example of this is Mike, who seems to have the opposite stance on the matter. “This food freaking sucks! The fries are not good, and they have like no variety. All they have is burgers and I’m so freaking tired of burger. I can eat them whenever I freaking want!” This time, the reaction is the complete opposite than the last one. He is very annoyed at the selection of food and is not a fan of the quality either.

Performing all these interviews finally led me to the answer to this million-dollar question. The reason that Aramark has attracted more students to its variety of foods and is very special is because of all the different opinions the students have of it. When Sodexo was running things, students were not happy. However, students all seem to be happy about Aramark and the number of negative comments has decreased. I am sure that as the year goes on, Aramark will continue to improve and reach even greater heights.