Sodexho responds to the concerns of students
St. John’s and Sodexho USA will gauge students’ reaction to their performance and gain students’ input on what changes they would like to see in the campus’s food services beginning this month.
A survey will be available to students to give them a chance to tell the University what food options and franchises they would like to see on campus.
“One of the key pieces will be the survey of the students to really understand where we want to go,” said Anne Marie Schettini-Lynch, the associate treasurer of auxiliary services. “Do we want Burger King here? Do the students want Wendy’s? Is it even an option from a Sodexho stand point because each of these franchises work very differently?”
Free snack incentives may be used to encourage students to fill out the forms.
Also, according the University, the items sold under Aramark are the same price as they were before. Sodexho, who is doing a price analysis, set the prices for all new items. Franchises such as Burger King, because of the smaller sales population on campus then outside stores, will set prices higher at St. John’s.
While Sodexho may not have been ready to deal with the short three week time frame they had to begin operating on the St. John’s campus, they have begun to make some strides toward small improvements, such as trying to eliminate long lines.
“I’ll admit, I don’t think they realized how busy they were going to be,” Schettini-Lynch said. “I just don’t think they realized how many students are on campus.”
She said that a second register was opened in Montgoris Dining Hall and a third in the Law School at peak times
Other additions Sodexho will make include a campus baker to make muffins, donuts and other baked goods for Marillac and the Law school. They have already added a campus dietician, Maya Larola, whom students can contact through the food services Web site.