Real Students Speak Out About Campus Dining
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Better understanding what college students want from their dining services can lead to higher sales, recruitments and retention. We chatted with college freshmen nationwide—here is what they had to say about campus dining!
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Real Students Speak Out About Campus Dining
- 1. REAL STUDENTS SPEAK OUT ABOUT CAMPUS DINING
- 2. Better understanding what students want from campus dining can help guide strategies for updating menus and offerings—and drive recruitment and retention efforts. That’s why we chatted with college freshmen at schools nationwide* to explore the importance of dining in their overall campus experience. Here’s what they had to say.
- 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What’s on Freshmen Minds 2. What Freshmen Love 3. What Freshmen Complain About
- 4. PART ONE: WHAT’S ON FRESHMEN MINDS
- 5. THEY LOOK TO FOOD TO KEEP UP WITH A NEW PACE OF LIFE “I am very into fitness, so I track my intake to ensure I am eating enough as well as the right amounts of carbs, fats, and proteins. This improves my mood daily because it gives me a sense of confidence in how well I am treating my body, and it also allows me to eat treats without feeling guilty (because I account for these treats in my tracking).” “Food to me is personal. Food is my constant, my peace of mind when other things fall apart. It can entirely alter my mood. If I’m angry at 10 a.m. in the morning after class I know it’s because I haven’t eaten, and once I have I can begin to properly deal with the day.”
- 6. THEY LOOK TO CREATE BALANCE “Since starting college, I’ve been trying to eat mostly protein and [healthy] fat but I have snuck in some waffle fries here and there.” “I like to eat salads for lunch when I don’t want to eat their main meals. Yesterday, they had rice and meat options but I am vegetarian. They also had a mac-and- cheese station but I already indulged in that yesterday.”
- 7. THEY ARE CONSTANTLY ON THE GO “The pace of my day is honestly busy from meetings and things.” “So far, campus life is engaging, hectic and overwhelming. For me, a typical day consists of rising at around 9, showering, talking with my roommate, studying, hustling to class and eating two meals a day.”
- 8. THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE FRESHMAN 15 “I feel the availability of healthy options is important to not gain that dreaded ‘freshmen 15.’” “I’m just trying to be more health- conscious, watching out for what they call ‘freshman 15.’ My parents are very healthy and so I’m used to getting healthy food without trying.”
- 9. THEY TRY TO BE SAVVY ABOUT COSTS “I don’t always think about the price of the food I am eating, but I do when I spend dining dollars and actual money. I typically eat at the dining center when I am trying to be more cognizant of my spending.” “Because I like to save money, I never eat out unless someone else pays. Money greatly affects my eating habits.”
- 10. THEY DESERVE DIVERSITY IN LIFE AND IN FOOD “Diversity and seasoning [is what’s missing from college dining]. Most academic institutions just fail at this, especially predominantly white institutions. American colleges are now universally diverse. Yet not many have learned what it means to adapt to the changing population. I am of African descent but my school especially has a decent concentration of international students from Asia. What do they eat? If you were to walk into the dining hall, you’d be hard-pressed to find any food item that was outside the scope of popular American meals.” “I would love to see more ethnic options at school and the benefit would be that it could bring people together who are of different races and ethnicities. I think food is one of those barrier-breaking things because it can be enjoyed by everyone. I rarely go off campus to eat, maybe once a month, but when I do, it is because I want a change of pace.”
- 11. DINING’S ROLE IN CAMPUS ADMISSIONS AND RETENTION “I heard about the food program when I was applying and actually got to eat in the cafeteria on my visit so I was able to experience it before I actually started school. I remember being very nervous, the first time coming there and not knowing how to get food, but then I realized it was sort of laid out like a buffet where you can just grab what you want and I loved it because it is so easy.” “We had a required dining plan with unlimited meal swipes as a freshman, which was a lot different from the other schools I visited. It was appealing to know I never had to be hungry.”
- 13. CONVENIENT LOCATIONS “The school places the dining halls very close to the dorms making it very accessible to most. I am usually within a 5-minute walk of a dining hall.” “Constant access is good because everyone’s schedules vary time-wise, so everyone can get a meal at some point during the day when it is convenient to them. There is also a convenience market under the freshman dorm that I live in and there definitely should be more of them because it’s nice to be able to walk downstairs and have a convenience market.”
- 14. HEALTHY OPTIONS “I think the availability of exciting, healthy and enjoyable foods play a great role in creating a positive environment. If I hated the food here and if it was repetitive and boring, I know I would be very cranky. A girl needs her food! I also applaud my university for its well-done dining facilities because we are located in a small town, where outside dining is limited.” “When it comes to campus dining, it’s most important for me just to see healthy options and well-made food. The food here is high- end and also healthy, which satisfies both of my needs. There are vegan, allergy, kosher and regular stations in our dining halls that include all different types of food.”
- 15. BRINGING IN LOCAL FLAVOR “The farmers market comes every Tuesday and offers a wide selection of baked goods, coffees, ice cream, spicy peppers and more! Every Tuesday at the farmers market on campus, I have a glazed donut. Sometimes I have an iced coffee from the farmers market, just as a treat.” “The Wednesday farmers market [is my favorite]! Every Wednesday during warm weather, locals come to sell their fresh produce and specialties at the farmers market—which is amazing!”
- 16. PART THREE: WHAT FRESHMEN COMPLAIN ABOUT
- 17. DINING HOURS “I don’t think they understand our hectic schedules. The dining halls are only open during certain times. That is just not realistic when you have clubs, lectures and sports. I can’t always make it to lunch, and when I can’t, that forces me to spend my own money, or not eat.” “For general colleges, I just don’t understand why they need to have specific times when you HAVE to come eat. Their dinners start at 5 and end at 7. But those are such early hours, and then it’s common to get hungry again at 9 or 10.”
- 18. NOT ENOUGH GRAB-AND-GO “Unfortunately, we can only eat the meals in the cafeterias — they don’t have any to-go boxes for us to take them in. Something I would like to see would be a sack lunch program. This would help because our cafeteria does not have food for you to take with you — only plates to sit down.” “For a busy college student, the ability to grab food on the go is important. At the dining center, I think they could make takeout an available resource instead of making the student eat in the dining center, which is a time-consuming experience.”
- 19. HAVING TO SPEND CASH “When it comes to cost, I don’t really think about it that much because paying for it is like using a credit or debit card. We hand our ID to the lunch lady, she swipes it and then we are good. I think this system causes a lot more people to eat on campus because physical money isn’t exchanged.” “The vending machine takes real money, something college kids don’t have much of. It’s supposed to accept credit cards, but the credit slot is broken. I would assume that it would be used more often if this were not the case. I believe college students are more likely to spend more with credit, as spending with real money is a more tangible, visible way of understanding how much you are truly spending.”
- 20. LACK OF DIVERSITY “I’d love to see halal meats, Middle Eastern dishes, Asian cuisine and African food offered.” “I would also love if there were ethnic cuisine nights in the dining hall. For example, if we had Taco Tuesday or Sushi Saturday. This would be on my wish list as I would love to have more ethnic cuisines without having to go off campus for it.”
- 21. BEST PRACTICES TO BOOST CAMPUS MEAL PLAN SALES Achieving recurring meal plan revenue has become a major challenge, but some campuses have found a way to drive robust meal plan sales. To help you do the same, we’ve created a helpful guide. Discover what sets the most successful meal plan programs apart in DOWNLOAD GUIDE *9 students from Hamline University, University of Rochester, Stanford University, Davidson University, Dartmouth College, University of Chicago, Southern Methodist University, Emory University were interviewed.