When one student said they found a “nuclear bomb” in their Epicuria pizza, “Charles” was there to answer from the dining hall’s television screen.

“Welcome to Housing-Dining,” he wrote from the screen. “And glad that your experience was a ‘nuclear bomb’.”

While some students may assume the name on dining hall screens is a pseudonym for a team or even a chatbot, Charles Wilcots – the associate director of UCLA Housing – said he wants people to know that he is a “live, living, breathing person.”

Wilcots said he focused on personalizing UCLA’s Dine & Dish program – a software purchased by the university that allows students to give feedback on dining halls – for the past 10 years. During his over-25-year stint working for UCLA, Wilcots added that he has overseen the university’s residential dining and vending machine program.

“We wanted to call it Dine & Dish, so you eat, and then you talk about it – your experience,” Wilcots said. “It’s all about the experiences within our restaurant locations.”

Student satisfaction, Wilcots said, can come down to details as small as the fruit available at Bruin Plate. He added that he enjoys including educational tidbits in his replies on Dine & Dish.

Wilcots learned that the strawberries, which UCLA Dining consistently incorporates as a regular option on winter and spring menus, are “always a hit” among students. Because they are so enthusiastic about strawberries, he added that he occasionally has to remind students that the fruit is not in season year-round.

Senior Executive Chef Joey Martin, who has worked with Wilcots for over nine years, said Dining Services is focused on building a comfortable environment for students to try new things.

“It’s about, really, what can we give the students?” he said. “What can we offer them? How can we teach them to eat healthy?”

Martin said his partnership with Wilcots is important to the development of UCLA’s dining halls, as well as the preparation of the 27,000 to 33,000 meals served on the Hill every day. While Wilcots goes over feedback taken from Dine & Dish with dining staff, Martin implements those suggestions, he said.

A Dine & Dish review about the importance of authenticity in the dining halls’ cuisine inspired Martin to develop the “Recipes from Home” series, where four students created and served traditional dishes from their cultures in the dining halls last spring, he said.

[Related: UCLA Dining’s ‘Recipes From Home’ initiative cooks up cultural meals, memories]

Dine & Dish is Wilcots’ outlet to form connections with the student population, Martin said.

“He’s very analytic, and he’s very thoughtful,” Martin said. “When he sits down and plans something out, you know it’s going to be flawless.”

Alyssa Wong, a second-year computer science student, said she often sends photos of Wilcots’ Dine & Dish responses to her friends.

Wong added that although she’s never met him, she views Wilcots as serious in the face of funny comments. She said she particularly appreciated students’ comments that described Epicuria’s food as “skibbilicious,” and how one commenter said they decided to “name (their) firstborn child” after Epicuria’s peach salad.

Wilcots responded in turn, agreeing that Epicuria “hit that skibbilicious sweet spot.” He also added that he would make sure the bakery team knew their creation had reached “legendary status” and the “highest honor a peach salad could ever receive.”

“I just assume that he is a composed and thoughtful person, given he’s received a variety of feedback, ranging from normal to a little bit odd,” Wong said. “He seems to respond to different kinds of situations gracefully.”

Wilcots said he is often asked if he is “the” Charles – as students typically recognize the name on his badge, but not the face associated with it.

“Sometimes I’ll play around with them, like ‘I am Charles.’ … And (they say) ‘What do you mean by that, Charles?’” Wilcots said. “I’ll sometimes say, ‘Nah, I don’t think I’m that Charles, but I am a Charles.’”