By Lizzie Douglas

Students have long complained about the food at Haverford’s Dining Center and wished the quality could be up to par with Bryn Mawr’s. With the current merger of Haverford and Bryn Mawr’s Dining Services, both colleges are rethinking the way dining runs.

To find out what students think the Haverford Dining Center needs, Dining Services and Council of 12 held three focus group sessions last week. The main issues that came out of the meetings were the organization of the Dining Center, the number of student workers, and the food itself.

Although the sessions occurred at and for Haverford, Bryn Mawr headed the meetings as impartial observers, along with Council of 12.

“We are looking at quality issues within the DC and finding the reason for the disparity [between Bryn Mawr and Haverford Dining Services],” said Bernie Chung-Templeton, Bryn Mawr’s Director of Dining Services.

“We want an open dialogue with students,” said John Francone, Director of Dining Services at Haverford.

Students discussed "how we order things, what’s the quality of what we’re doing in the back, what’s the flow,” said Will Harrison ’10, Students’ Council Co-President, who attended the Thursday night group.

In terms of the Dining Center’s layout, the current traffic pattern causes major congestion during busy times. Hot food goes cold as people wait to choose their drinks, salads and desserts. The beverage center area becomes a bottleneck in the morning as many students head for the caffeinated beverages. Reversing the flow pattern through the Dining Center may be a possible solution, said Chung-Templeton.

She and David Chase, Bryn Mawr’s Associate Director of Dining Services, agreed that a key problem with the Dining Center is the disconnect between the staff and the students. As nearly 40% of the staff at Bryn Mawr’s dining centers are students, there is nearly instant feedback to the management about student opinion regarding the food. Haverford lacks this kind of communication. One of the upcoming changes in Dining Services may be an increase in student workers in the Dining Services.

Many students—both at the discussions and in an online survey sent out last month—were concerned about the greasiness of the food and the lack of fresh vegetables, said Council of 12 member Isobel Grad, HC ’11, who organized the meetings.

However, Francone said that the menu is nutritionally sound: “People complained about the amount of fried food we serve, but all of it is fried in canola oil [and] designed in conjunction with a dietician,” he said.

Francone also refuted the idea that Haverford’s kitchen is small and ill-equipped. The kitchen equipment was installed eight to ten years ago, and the staff designed the kitchen itself.

“It is very efficient and very large; it is bigger than the kitchens in Haffner and Erdman combined,” said Francone. If any students have doubts about Haverford’s kitchen facilities, “I would be more than happy to give them a tour,” he said.

Already, some small-scale changes have occurred. The deli is now available at dinner; bowls for cereal that used to be on a cart blocking the floor have now been moved onto the cereal counter.

“We also might be getting chocolate mousse brownies [like they have at Haffner], which is the best thing I’ve heard all year,” said Harrison Haas ’10, Students’ Council Co-President.

Students should expect to see larger changes after Winter Break and throughout spring semester. A full report containing information from the observations and focus groups will be out December 1.

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