Friday, March 29, 2024

AdvertiseDonateSubmit
NewsSportsArtsOpinionThe QuadPhotoVideoIllustrationsCartoonsGraphicsThe StackPRIMEEnterpriseInteractivesPodcastsBruinwalkClassifieds

‘Restaurant quality’ sought at Rieber’s new dining hall

By Daily Bruin Staff

Jan. 21, 1997 9:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 22, 1997

DORMS:

Officials hope redesigned eatery will raise student
satisfactionBy Toni Dimayuga

Daily Bruin Contributor

After four months of early-morning construction and trekking to
other residence halls to eat, the nomadic inhabitants of Rieber
Hall and Saxon Suites can now return to a place they call their
own.

Rieber Hall’s dining facility reopened Monday, bringing music to
the ears of many inhabitants of Rieber Hall and Saxon Suites, as
well as a new technique in dorm dining service. Residents such as
Angela Ji, a first-year design student, expressed happiness to no
longer have to migrate elsewhere to eat.

"Now we have our own place to go for the rest of the year," she
said.

Other residents, such as Quynh Buong, a first-year undeclared
student, are just glad that the construction is over.

"We had to go through so much ­ fire alarms, blackouts
­ even through finals they would do construction," he
said.

The decision to update the dining hall was based on input from
customer satisfaction reports, explained Michael Foraker, director
of On-Campus Housing.

"Our goal is to achieve restaurant quality, if not better food
product, and we wanted to substantively increase the overall
quality of the dining room," he said.

Foraker explained that much of the renovation concerned the type
of equipment and layout that allows the production of hot and fresh
food. For example, steam tables ­ a staple in keeping prepared
food hot ­ are almost nowhere to be found.

"You won’t see large quantities of food made in advance, set in
large bowls and containers. You’ll see people in work stations
preparing individual portions," he said.

Instead of serving food in one general place or like an assembly
line, the drink stations and "food platforms" ­ stations that
specialize in a type of food preparation such as baked goods, the
grill and main entrees ­ are strategically spread out. The
team leader of each food platform wears a headset to maintain
communication.

Seating is situated so that groups of chairs and tables, some
crowned with colorful umbrellas, are conveniently located near the
food platforms.

Buong thinks the layout will cut down on lines.

"I like how it’s set up because you don’t have to wait in line
for anything. There’s soda machines all over the place, so it’s not
one centered place where everybody waits in line, so it’s more
convenient," she said.

In addition, the dining area also features exhibition cooking,
where customers can see their meals prepared in front of them.

"The exhibition style of presenting the food is really
interesting because you could see people creating the food, instead
of being just served food, and I like the openness of this dining
room. It’s very nice, it’s very modern," Ji said.

The focus of the renovations is to provide students with a
dining experience, rather than just food service, said Mary Niven,
associate director of dining services.

"What we’re doing here is something that’s never been done
before," she said.

In general, Rieber and Saxon residents praised the new look of
their old cafeteria.

"I love it. It’s much better than anywhere else. The hamburgers
actually taste like real food. The bakery’s cool ­ we have our
own bakery and cappuccino machine," said Samantha Sher, a
first-year undeclared student.

Other residents anticipate that Rieber’s new look will attract
other dorm inhabitants.

"I like how big it is; it’s not as crowded as, say, Sunset
­ at least not yet," said Kevin Bennett, a first-year
undeclared student.

Rieber dining hall’s reopening is also a positive sign for the
other dining halls who have had to accommodate the extra influx of
people in their facility, with Sunset Village Commons bearing the
most of the load.

"We’re hoping it’s going to ease our flow ­ we’re giving
the best service we can now, we try, but there’s only so many
things we can do," explained Antoinette Rutledge, senior manager of
Sunset dining.

Rutledge said that although they hoped attendance will decrease
by at least 300 to 400 people a day, she predicts that a lot of
people will still flock to Sunset. In fact, despite Rieber’s
opening, Sunset dining still served about 300 more people during
Monday’s dinner than the projected 900.

Currently, Rieber dining hall is available only to Rieber and
Saxon residents Monday through Friday, to "make sure they have an
opportunity to enjoy this new facility," and to give the staff time
to get accustomed to the new equipment, according to On-Campus
Housing’s Foraker.

This weekend, Hedrick Hall and Hitch Suites residents ­
whose eating facility has been shut down on weekends ­ will be
invited to dine in the renovated dining room, and beginning in
February, the facility will be open to all On-Campus Housing
residents.

The Hedrick facility is next in line to be upgraded, Foraker
said, though a date has yet to be finalized.

Share this story:FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
COMMENTS
Featured Classifieds
More classifieds »
Related Posts