Throughout the years, CulinArt has been name-dropped in the Globe more times than you’d expect. Although the content of these stories focused mainly on the negative issues of the dining hall, such as mold, items found in food, etc., I wanted to shed some light on some of the improvements CulinArt has made, as well as some things that could still be improved upon.
I want to be clear in saying that this is not a hit piece on CulinArt. I admire the dedication it showed this year for improving overall campus dining experiences. Rather, I think this article is a way of giving notice to some of the more important items that still need improvement.
For starters, after the copious amounts of hour changes during the last two years, dining facilities seem to have improved their hours of operation, though not significantly. What was once Point Perk, now called Bison Bites and Brews (B3), still opens at 7 a.m. every weekday. It also now closes at 10 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, at 7 p.m. on Mondays and at 5 p.m. on Fridays. Prior, it closed at 5 p.m. on Mondays and at 4 p.m. on Fridays.
However, it is still not open on weekends, which can be an issue for many students who rely on their meal plans. This can be tedious for COPA students who want to utilize campus dining after rehearsals on weekends.
One thing I do really enjoy about the new B3 brand is that it has expanded its menu to now include more food and drink options than before. This also comes with a caveat: the drinks are sometimes more expensive than the food, or roughly the same price.
The quality of the products has increased slightly, but some days the quality can dive. I used to get a black tea lemonade all the time. Now, after getting one that tasted terrible, I can no longer have it because of food anxiety.
Near the beginning of the semester, an announcement was sent out around campus that meal swipes can now be used twice a day in the Point Cafe. This is a significant improvement to the dining experience, but it is overshadowed by B3’s meal board policy.
If you use a meal swipe for lunch in the Point Cafe, Dining Hall or B3, you can no longer use it in B3 for the remainder of the day, causing students to have to resort to Flex Dollars.
If you use it in B3 for lunch, you can’t use it anywhere else for the rest of the day. This can quickly drain students of their Flex balance and cause them to not utilize B3 as much. This rule is very strange, as you can use two boards per day in the dining hall and in the Point Cafe.
Though the dining hall has been subject to many articles in The Globe, it has also made some improvements. For breakfast, the dining hall now has an omelet station, equipped with a chef, for anyone who may crave one. There are also new menu displays using monitor screens instead of paper in a plastic case. The food has also seemingly improved, though not by much.
The dining hall can fill up quickly, which can leave no room for seating. Due to this and a lack of options, the policy of not being able to use takeout containers or take food out of the dining hall can be constraining.
However, there are still some issues that persist in the dining hall. For example, not just in the dining hall, but in all dining facilities, the ID Scanners may break, which will cause the staff to write down order totals, ID numbers, etc. Sometimes, when these are inputted into the system after it’s back online, students who specified Flex or Meal Swipes for payment would sometimes get charged for the opposite.
Speaking of staff, many of the student employees that CulinArt has employed this year are all very nice. However there are still some staff members who don’t have the best attitudes when serving people.
As someone who has worked in food service, I know it can be difficult sometimes to deal with issues that arise on a stressful workday, but part of the job is providing hospitality to customers. If you feel like you’re not in the best state of mind to be interacting with people, tell your boss. Please don’t take it out on students who are just trying to get something to eat or drink.
There are many more improvements that have been made and have yet to be made, but don’t let that dissuade you from trying the dining facilities once more, if you haven’t already. You may find yourself impressed.
