H&D sends out survey

By Ellen Liu     10/28/10 7:00pm

Housing and Dining is conducting a campus-wide survey of the overall quality of its eating establishments. The survey was opened to all students, faculty, and staff members on Oct. 25 and will be available online until Nov. 24. The survey is part of an annual national assessment of college cuisine that is administered by the National Association of College and University Food Services. NACUFS is a food services organization that includes over 1000 university members organized by region. Rice is in the Southern Region and will be compared to colleges both regionally and nationally.

Director of Residential Dining David McDonald said the purpose of the survey is to get the opinion of the entire campus on all food venues at Rice, from the serveries to Brochstein Pavilion. He said he wants to learn where and how operations should be improved. According to McDonald, H&D emails a similar internal survey each year to all undergraduates, but he is hoping to get a larger, more comprehensive response to this national survey.

McDonald said the in-house survey usually gets 20 percent undergraduate participation, but the national survey received 1400 respondents in one day. He said he would ideally like at least a 40 or 50 percent response rate because he believes that a data sample of that size would form a relatively accurate representation of campus opinions. However, he said he does not know how likely this participation level is. He is also interested in seeing how Rice measures up against other universities in terms of food services.

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McDonald said he will receive the final survey results in January but will not take them at immediate face value. Instead, he mentioned that he would speak with students, staff, and faculty first to gauge their opinions directly.

West Servery Senior Executive Chef Roger Elkhouri said a recent challenge has been satisfying calls for healthier food. According to him, that obstacle has essentially been conquered.

"When we prepare foods, it's all based on formulas," Elkhouri said, "If anyone has a question about what we do, we back it up with scientific facts."

According to Elkhouri, feedback from previous surveys has been excellent, and he does not anticipate any problems with this one.

"Quality and service really come together here, not like in other universities," he said.

When asked if H&D had any changes already planned, McDonald said that his office's biggest focus is getting East Servery open, staffed and equipped. He said he wants to ensure that the project is completed on time, unlike West Servery. According to McDonald, H&D has been hiring staff for the new servery since July, getting the necessary permits, and preparing the equipment so that any glitches that arise will be effectively handled. He said East Servery is absolutely necessary and a top priority.

"Will Rice [College], Lovett [College] and their commons have really been a challenging experiment for all of us," said McDonald, "East Servery will finally change the dynamics of the campus."

He said that any possible future changes in food services will depend on survey responses and will probably take some time to implement.

Wiess College freshman Michael Yu said he thinks the food is satisfactory overall, but he sometimes can't find a suitable option because he is lactose-intolerant.

"Thank goodness the South Servery has a panini grill, or else I'd have nothing to eat," Yu said.

Regarding H&D's survey, Yu said he appreciates the effort but doesn't think people will take it very seriously.

"It's so long and some questions are inconsequential," said Yu, "For example, it asked us our opinions of the staff, and we don't interact with them much, so it's not really that relevant."

Stephanie Frey, a Resident Associate at Martel College, said she believes Rice offered the highest quality and greatest variety of food among all the universities she's visited but wishes the serveries had more options for those with dietary restrictions.

"I have a lot of food intolerances," Frey said, "Gluten-free bread would be wonderful, along with more vegetarian options and fresher vegetables. They're like square green beans and carrots out of a can."

Frey said the serveries will soon have to expand their choices because greater numbers of people are developing issues with gluten and other substances. She also mentioned that the survey will only be effective if the feedback is actually taken seriously.

"I do like the fact that they value input," Frey said, "When we approach chefs and make suggestions, they do try to accommodate us, and the idea of a survey is very considerate.

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