Dining Services announced multiple changes coming to on-campus dining next fall, including expanded hours in The View, more variety in the dining menu and most notably, an unlimited meal plan.
New unlimited meal plan
The new unlimited meal plan is open to all students, but first-year resident students will be required to purchase the unlimited plan at $2,175 per semester.
It will include 100 flex dollars, which will be known next year as dining dollars to avoid confusion with eXpress funds, along with unlimited meal swipes and four guest swipes. Meal swipes and guest swipes are accepted at The View and Binz Refectory.
This is compared to $2,112 for Block 225, the largest meal plan currently offered that includes 70 flex dollars, four guest swipes and averages out to 15 meals a week.
“You have class in the morning and you don’t have time to come in and get a full meal,” said Angela Hasouris, the associate director of residential dining. “You can swipe your card and grab a banana or muffin and go, and then you can come back an hour later and have lunch.”
St. Thomas students had mixed reactions to the unlimited meal plan. First-year Alex Proctor was supportive.
“I think it’s worth it because some people have big diets and are trying to bulk up, trying to get huge,” Proctor, a player on the baseball team, said.
He noted that unlimited meal swipes would be the best option for him, since he had the Block 185 plan in the fall semester and ran out of swipes.
However, first-year Breanna Beaulier disagreed.
“It’s irrelevant for me,” she said. “I had 40 extra meals with the Block 150 plan. I don’t want to eat three meals a day here. I don’t want to leave my dorm all the time, especially in the winter.”
Some students feel that first-years should be able to choose their meal plan.
“I learned very quickly that I’m not going to be coming [to The View] for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” sophomore Noah Ellingsworth said.
Other students felt that 100 dining dollars wasn’t enough for the price, including sophomore Gabe Stark.
“I always spend all my Flex on Cliff bars and pizza rolls,” Stark said.
He said that he might consider the unlimited meal plan himself, though, since he has eaten upward of four times a day at The View.
New executive chef
St. Thomas hired a new executive chef last semester, Benjamin McCallum, to oversee these changes. McCallum is the first executive chef that St. Thomas has had in four years.
McCallum was the executive chef at the Saint Paul RiverCentre for two years. Prior to his experience there, he ran his own catering company, Three Sons Signature Cuisine, for 15 years.
He hopes to unify all of the dining facilities on campus, instead of having executives at each location.
“My big overall vision of the department is to remove the silos,” McCallum said. “All of our dining halls are run individually by different chefs, so there isn’t a lot of similarity.”
McCallum states that his plan will help the university with sustainability practices.
There will be faster service through the elimination of self-service food stations. The all-you-can-eat concept will still be available, and students will still be able to grab as many plates as they want. McCallum said that food quantities will be portioned out by a dietitian and served ready-to-go for students, which will prevent food waste
“The eyes are always bigger than the stomach,” he said. “Kids will come up to the line and load their plate up with everything that looks good, but then when it comes to eating it, halfway through the plate, they are full.”
Extensive menu options, extended hours
Other changes coming to The View include a more extensive menu.
“We have gotten feedback about menu variety,” Hasouris said. “We have a lot of requests for more vegan and vegetarian options.”
Another change will be adding a G8 allergy station, which includes the eight most notable allergies: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soy. McCallum noted that this will be in a separate room at either or both of The View and the new dining hall on the north campus coming in fall 2020.
The View will be expanding its hours, staying open without downtime between breakfast, lunch and dinner. There will also be changes to accomodate students with late classes.
The specifics of the expanded hours are yet to be determined.
Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.
Brennan Campbell can be reached at camp3460@stthomas.edu.
Emilia Fredrickson can be reached at emiliafredrickson@stthomas.edu.