TCU Dining Services and the Student Government Association’s Dining Services Committee have met to begin discussing plans for new dining options in the new student center, including a proposal for a new all-you-can-eat dining plan.Although both groups are still in the planning stages, Rick Flores, Sodexho general manager, said a change in the current dining plan has been proposed.
“A lot of the decisions regarding what we put in the student center concern whether we move to the new dining plan,” Flores said. “Instead of the current system where students pay as they go, there might be more of an all-you-can-eat plan going into place.”
Dining Services plans to distribute a food preference survey in the next academic year so it has a clear direction in terms of the dining options most students want. But before any definite changes can be made, Dining Services will have to figure out the best way to use the space provided by the new student center as Dining Services begins looking at new brands and cost estimates, Flores said.
Legia Abato, Sodexho district marketing manager, said Dining Services has not resolved the costs because it is trying to decide on what to do with the space and what students want.
Although the all-you-can-eat dining plan is being formulated, Abato said, there will still be retail options, such as Starbucks, where students pay a certain amount for the product.
Many students are looking forward to the new student center’s dining options with the hope of a better selection.
“I want to see more variety and healthier food,” said Madison Cutherell, a freshman early childhood education major. “There should be new brands and better quality food, since it’s usually only hamburgers.”
Freshman accounting major Michael Harlow said he also wants to see a bigger selection in the new student center, as well as better-set times of operation for certain venues.
“One thing I really don’t like is that the Chinese place in the Far East section of The Main is only open a few days a week,” Harlow said.
The decisions may be in the future, but for right now, Flores said, both Dining Services and the Dining Services Committee are looking at all possibilities and are trying to find the options that best suit the students.
