Beyond the physical renovations and strides towards sustainability, the cafeteria and Grill have undergone a number of changes this year under the direction of Meriwether Godsey.One of the more obvious changes in the Grill this year has been the addition of several new menu items. Milkshakes, blended coffee drinks, and design-your-own cold and panini-style sandwiches are all new this year. A new Portobello mushroom panini is one of the latest additions to the grill menu, introduced to provide more options for vegetarians and vegans.

Upstairs in the cafeteria, efforts have been taken to make dining services more vegan-friendly as well.

“The vegan menu items that were in the evening before were mostly pre-made casseroles, so now we are trying to make it more action-driven,” said dining room general manager Greg Retz. “More stir-fries, more pasta bars, because that’s the way we’ll be going with the renovations as well,” said Retz.

“I definitely love that the vegan station is open for dinner these days because there have been times in the past when I felt like there was nothing I could eat . were they expecting that vegans don’t eat dinner or something?” said junior and vegan Max Cawley.

Cawley said that the cafeteria and grill have both been making progress in terms of their catering to vegans, but that there is still room for improvement.

“It’s not the best food I’ve ever had, but at least they recognize that vegans can’t just survive on vegetables,” said Cawley. “But there are still times when I have to go get pasta because there’s nothing else . and the options for sauces are meat or cream sauce.”

Enforcement of a limit to how many meals students can use per day is another change that the cafeteria has undergone in recent weeks.

“It’s four meals per day regardless of what meal plan you are,” said Retz. “It’s a computer-driven limit, meaning that if you use four meals today the computer logs you out and my staff can’t change it.”

One complaint has been that the limit is not accommodating to people who prefer to eat in the five-small-meals-a-day, or grazing method, as opposed to three large meals. Others have complained that because the meal plan is expensive, there should be more flexibility with how students can spend their meal credit, especially since the new rule was instated midway through the semester.

“I think its kind of ridiculous because some people eat a lot more (than others) and since we’re paying for it I think we should be able to eat as many times as we want,” said junior Olivia Richardson.

According to Retz, “the limit goes back to people trying to use their cards for other people. You might use your card and bring it to the end of the line. We are trying to find an amicable way to help people understand they need to use their cards forthemselves. We are exploring other options like a descending balance.”

Many students have voiced their frustration about this policy.

“If I could change one thing it would be allowing people to use meal swipes for friends,” said Richardson

Retz clarified that the rule disallowing swiping others is not new – it existed even in the Sodexho era though it was not always enforced.

“It’s a school policy. The Quaker card is designed to be used for you,” said Retz.

Students can anticipate more changes coming from the cafeteria and grill in the upcoming weeks.

Although the cafeteria has begun to offer a-la-carte breakfast sandwiches and burritos, which have made eating breakfast on-the-go a possibility, Retz said that the grill may also start having hot breakfast items.

“What we’re exploring is doing something like Starbucks has now with their breakfast sandwiches, where they pop them in the microwave or oven to heat it very quickly and you take it to go,” said Retz. “That allows the staff to continue to cook and set up for lunch while they can also do breakfast.”

Dining services are hesitant to provide take-out boxes in the cafeteria because the cost would be difficult to manage. He also mentioned that the extra waste from the to-go boxes would work against MG’s sustainability commitment.

Dining services recently sent out surveys by e-mail to get a sense of how students are feeling about the service MG provides.

“I love the suggestions we get from students and most of them are actually put in place one way or another,” said Retz. “I have to strike a balance and do the best I can in terms of making as many people happy as I can.