Lipscomb Dining has cooked up a few new offerings for the fall, including the addition of an off-campus mean option and extra hours for dinner.
General Manager Wolcott Fary revealed that the dining hall will be adding extra hours to the schedule, meeting the request of many late-dining students.
“Extending hours in the dining room: it hasn’t happened yet, but it will happen this fall,” Fary said. “The dining room will stay open an extra 30 minutes and will now be open every Saturday.”
The dining room will now be open 7 days a week, and normal hours of operation will be from 7:15 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The long-talked about off-campus dining option is also now a reality, with the first wave of restaurants being commissioned for the fall.
“Starting this fall, you’ll be able to use your Bison Bucks at certain local restaurants within a five-mile radius of the school,” Fary said.
“The off-campus solutions team with Sodexo are in the process right now of going to more than 35 local restaurants to contract with them each individually to see if they want to become a part of the program. Each contract will be different, and there’s some outlay for the restaurants to become part of the program. Each restaurant will have to decide on its own whether it feels like it can get enough business to support the cost of maintaining the program.”
No restaurants can be absolutely confirmed at this time, but Fary disclosed a few of the restaurants on the list, including Copper Kettle, Subway, The Cheesecake Factory and Nero’s Grill.
Food-to-go in planning stages, dietary options available for those in need, other plans in works
A food-to-go system has also been a long hope of the student body. According to Fary, it’s an idea the dining service is aiming to bring to life.
“If there is a giant step that the student body would like us to go in, that would be it. Being able to come up to the dining room and get something in a to-go container and take it with you, I think would really make a big difference.”
However, Fary insists it isn’t as simple as just swiping your card, making a plate and leaving. The difficulty with this lies in balancing how much students are allowed to take, as well as the proper distribution of temperature-sensitive items.
“That is part of what we have to figure out,” Fary said. “The right way to accomplish that where we stay within the right guidelines with the health code.
“Part of dealing with that will be whether we weigh the food, like that’s done in a lot of hospitals. That could be an option. And, we have to worry about or the difference between hot and cold food. What if someone comes up and gets a hot meal in the afternoon, and then leaves it out and eats it later and gets sick? That’s a really important issue because a lot of students don’t fully understand safe food handling, and that’s something we have to take very seriously.”
Food-to-go currently isn’t scheduled any time soon, because it still needs to be worked out. What Fary hopes is that the student body gets together with SGA and the other student groups to forge the proper path for a food-to-go program.
Fary also mentioned the requests of those with dietary restrictions that conflict with the standard meal plan. He said that everyone who has certain dietary can to contact Lipscomb dining and make an appointment in person with the chef.
“I want to try to get the word out to anybody that has a dietary restriction or dietary need to come make an appointment with the chef, talk about their specific needs and allow us to work with them to make sure whether they come up for breakfast, lunch or dinner, that they’re gonna be able to get something that’s not obtrusive to their diet,” Fary said.
“We don’t want anyone to feel like they’re being pointed out or embarrassed just because they happen to have a certain diet. A lot of times, folks won’t say anything because they feel like they’d be bothering us. You’re never gonna bother us, and we’re not going to embarrass you. That’s not what we’re here to do. Everybody has a certain tolerance level for foods.Just because someone can’t eat fish or nuts or has Celiac doesn’t mean you can’t eat here. We want to work with you so you get the most out of your meal plan.”
A calendar of events has been planned for the next school year, so a lot of tasting events will be scheduled. In the past, there have been particular food days, such as a peanut butter & jelly day, popcorn day, and banana day. Fary said he plans to have something in store for many of the “food days”. Having an international chef in-house at a certain time in the year is also a program that’s slated to continue.
“That’s a Sodexo formatted program. I believe that next spring, one of the international chefs is slated to come to campus and do something for us,” Fary said.
For further inquiries, Fary recommends that students browse Lipscomb Dining’s website.
“I really encourage everyone to check the website when they have a question about operating hours, especially during the holidays – that will be really important this year,” Fary said. “The dining room will be open more than it ever has been. The food court will have areas that open and close based on the time of day, and it will be really important for people to check our schedule. And we’ll send out emails, too.”