As the school year has just begun, students, faculty, and staff adhere to their normal Dickinson schedules. Yet, this year dining services has made some alterations to the options around campus that have some people in an up-set. Some of the changes are big and some are small. The bigger change that has the campus talking is that the Mai Bowls are no longer in the Union Station. Along with this change, the meal exchange at the Quarry is now different. These two changes have many confused as to why they needed to happen.

In regards to the Mai Bowls moving out of the Union Station, the head of dining services, Errol Huffman, was able to break down this big change. The bowls were moved from the Union Station to the caf at the request of Student Life staff. “We met with part of their team last May and they cited concerns about long lines and wait times for different customer constituencies. They requested we eliminate that option from the Union Station,” explained Huffman. To not totally eliminate this well-liked meal option, Huffman and his staff suggested that they try to move it to the dining hall. With some concerns on this change, Huffman further spoke about the benefits of the Mai Bowls that were once an option in the Union Station. “Mai Bowls were so popular because the self-selected ingredients which also gave the guest more control over the nutritional attributes.” The beauty of these bowls was that the customer could choose what they wanted in their bowl and how much of it they wanted.

The issue with this meal option was that when 30 people or more lined up for the Mai Bowls, and there was limited grill space to cook them on, it would take 10 minutes or more for a person at the end of the line to have their selections cooked. While this was happening, those on line for other food options other than Mai Bowls would feel annoyed, as their meal wouldn’t initially be taking this amount of time. Errol Huffman firmly stated that the Mai Bowl will not return to the Union Station for the foreseeable future. If faculty and staff who have declining balance and do in fact want a Mai Bowl, they are able to buy them for less and go back for seconds. Declining balance lunch costs faculty and staff $6.75. Lunch is three points on flex plans and one swipe for Any 20 plans.

The second change that happened were the meal exchanges at the Quarry. This change has fewer people in a tizzy, but there’s still curiosity as to why is has occurred. Specialty coffees were added to morning or snack combinations that include the specialty drink and a choice of either a pastry or a piece of fresh fruit. There was also an addition of soft pretzels to the meal exchange as well. The pizza they offered was changed to offer better quality and larger portions that more closely reflect the value of the exchange. For meal exchanges after 5 PM the Quarry now includes a pretzel and standard drink; 8 wings and standard drink; 1 slice pizza and 4 wings and standard drink; or 1 slice of pizza and a standard drink and a whole fruit. Finally, the quick bites and signature sandwich combos, including the customized option, remain as meal exchanges as well.