Chartwells’ arrival as Trinity’s dining provider headlined with the promise of providing more sustainability. One year after making this promise, opinions from the student body have been mixed regarding the transition.
Taking on the mantle from Aramark, Chartwells revamped various aspects of the dining process at Trinity. Coates Student Center had each restaurant outside of Einstein’s fully redone, replacing them with new Chartwells concepts. Throughout the year, The Melt Lab was replaced by El Burro, an example of how Chartwells has utilized student feedback in its distribution process after a portion of students requested more Mexican food options. Kristin Alderete, marketing director for dining at Trinity, stressed the need for student voices in every dining decision made.
“While we are constantly gathering feedback, throughout the year we do have a Voice2Vision survey and feedback groups,” Alderete wrote in an email. “Those are important to use as we get to hear from students, faculty and staff about their dining experience and how we can improve. … As the years go on, we hope that guests continue to attend these sessions so that we can make improvements. Speaking for the team, I know we love to be creative, and it’s great to incorporate feedback into our menus and events!”
The variety of foods from Chartwells has led to new and limited-time dining options at various locations throughout the year. From the sweet potato fries of Legends Burger Co. to the addition of pizza options at Crave, Chartwells hopes to continue having conversations with students regarding their dining choices.
Despite these intentions, student perspectives on dining services have been polarized. Various students have expressed opinions, both positive and negative, regarding the transition after many years of Aramark options. Abby Hernandez, junior global health major, explained the general student sentiment around Chartwells after one year.
“I feel like it’s pretty divided,” Hernandez said. “I feel like people either have good or bad opinions on it. At the beginning, it was definitely a difficult transition, especially dealing with new systems of ordering and things like that. It has smoothed out quite a bit, but I also do live off campus so I don’t have as much of a connection as underclassmen might have.”
Students have generally tended to enjoy the ease of ordering at Coates Student Center, as well as the new dining options that provide more choices than what Aramark previously had. Still, negative sentiment has remained for some students, particularly towards Mabee Dining Hall and the changes conducted. Thanmayi Bommu, first-year business analytics and technology major, has specifically struggled with Mabee as someone who does not eat beef or pork.
“In general, more options would be great,” Bommu said. “I know some of the things that are there, they don’t really mention if it’s gluten-free. You have to specifically ask people and they have to ask their managers to get to see if it is gluten-free. So actually labeling things if they’re halal or gluten-free so people can actually know what they’re eating.”
Chartwells continues to focus on improvement, aiming to factor in the criticisms of students like Bommu into their changes. Looking ahead, Starbucks and Einsteins are slated to have their facilities revamped over the next summer. Alongside this, Crave menus are to be updated as well as introducing more sushi options and a hot dining option in CSI. As Chartwells chefs continue to base their changes on student voices, the dining provider looks to build upon their first year at Trinity.
“The biggest message we have is that nothing is too big an ask,” Alderete wrote. “We love to hear what students and staff want as we are constantly looking for ways to improve the dining experience! We know that nothing is perfect, but we want to see how close we can get, and we can’t do it without hearing from you!”