Students' Knowledge of UK Dining News

               This will be the third and final part in my analysis of my survey. In the last question of my survey I covered the topic of outsourcing to Aramark. I thought this would be a good point of discussion, especially since it pertains to my narrower research topic. I asked students whether or not they liked the fact that UK outsourced its food services to Aramark.

               Only 4% of the students that I polled said that they thought this new partnership was beneficial. Then 31% said that they did not like Aramark running UK Dining. Much of the opposition has come because of the meal swipe regulations that were brought about this semester. Last of all 65% were indifferent to the whole thing, whether it was because they didn’t care, didn’t see a difference, or didn’t know about it.

What I found surprising is that upon asking this question many of the students asked “What is Aramark?” or “What happened with the dining services?” I guess it didn’t strike me that most students don’t do research on the dining services at their college. I guess because I’ve done the research I know about the contract signed with Aramark this past summer, but if you don’t monitor campus news it’s not really common knowledge.

It is kind of important to know about UK’s outsourcing of dining services. For example if you have a problem with the service you are getting you have to know not to complain to the University because that would not get you anywhere. So this past week when there were people running for Freshmen Senate on the grounds of changing whatever they thought was wrong with the dining program, you would know that there is not much they can do about it and they obviously haven’t done their research. 

Students' Relationship with On-Campus Restaurants

               This will be another blog analyzing the results of my survey for this week. The numerous restaurants on campus at the University of Kentucky were a big topic of my survey. Ovid’s, K-Lair, and the student center are the most popular places, but there’s many more of these restaurants scattered across campus.

               I wanted to know how many times people eat at the on-campus restaurants per week. Just like with dining halls, 48% of the students polled eat at these restaurants less than three times a week. Unlike the frequency of students that go to dining halls, with on-campus restaurants there is a little over a quarter of students eat at these locations five to six times per week. There’s even 13% that go over eight times in just one week.

               As far as people’s satisfaction when eating at these places, all of the students that I polled said that they liked the food served at the on-campus restaurants. This probably has to do with the amazing variety that this type of food service offers. Everyone’s bound to find at least one restaurant that they enjoy eating at on-campus.

               Even though students enjoyed eating at these restaurants around campus, they are not without flaw. Many students expressed that they didn’t like the new meal swipe regulations implemented this year. Some also brought up that efficiency is a problem, especially when the lines for food get really long. Some students also feel that there are locations on campus that should probably increase their hours of operation.

               Again the accuracy of these results is not the best, because of the lack of students polled. I think that the variety of the students that I interviewed makes up for this fact. I made an effort to interview upperclassmen and freshmen, on-campus students and off-campus students.

Students' Relationship with Dining Halls

               This week I decided to do a survey of students on campus about what they think of campus dining at UK. I polled them on a number of things such as how many times a week they go to certain places on campus, what they think needs improvement, and whether or not they agree with the University’s decision to outsource the food services. One of the major topics of this survey was the major dining halls on campus.

               The first question I asked was on average how many times a week do you go to the two large dining halls on campus, Blazer and Commons. I found that the majority of the students go less than three times a week. Then 26% of students eat there only four times a week. It turned out that was a very small number of students that eat in these dining halls more than 6 times a week.

               To go along with this question I asked them if they liked the food they serve at these dining halls. A surprising 81% said that they did like the food.  I was pretty surprised that with the things you hear about college food that only 19% said they disliked it.

               Then I proceeded with what the student thought should be improved with Blazer and Commons. The majority of students wanted better quality of food, which is expected of college students but sadly not expected of college food. There were also many who would like more variety in their meals. Other concerns included cleanliness, healthier foods, and to be more allergy friendly.

               Overall I think the results were pretty accurate. Although my sample size was a tad small at only 23 students, I think it reflected a variety of types of students. I also wasn’t expecting to have that many students who went less than 3 times a week, but I obviously didn’t consider the off-campus students. It might have been better to poll only on-campus students.

Tough Times Call for Tough Measures

               So I found another article online concerning what schools do when dining becomes expensive. It was posted on universitybusiness.com in 2008; so it’s not directly relevant with today’s food service problems. Although if history repeats itself we might find ourselves in the same situation once again.

               In 2008 prices of national domestic food went up 5% in just one year. Many contributed this to the rising gas prices, since this plays a big role in food prices. Consequently university dining services were hit pretty hard by this. Many schools implemented many small cost-cutting technics; some of which to the students’ displeasure.

Harvard had to slice tomatoes in place of cherry tomatoes and avoid using the more expensive chicken breasts. It wasn’t just in Massachusetts either, Louisiana State University decided to make pizza dough in-house and offer simpler meals like pasta in order to avoid passing on the costs to the students. Despite these measure the price of meal plans went up 7% from the previous year. Many of these kinds of tactics seem unfruitful. Is the students’ dissatisfaction really worth the small amount of gain acquired?

Other universities like the University of Massachusetts are cutting down on the portion size. This I’m sure garnered quite a bit of student opposition. They also planned on making their cooking process more efficient by digitally analyzing their dining services to eliminate waste and increasing the amount of customers served. I’m not sure whether trying to streamline the dining services would be worth it in the end, but it’s worth a try.

They even said that colleges with private contracts were trying to renegotiate their contracts with their food service provider, because of the rise in food costs. This should worry a university when costs go up, because much of the bill is picked up by the university in these cases. Although food service companies are not immune from the rise in costs either.

 Herman, Michelle. "Dining Halls Feel Squeeze From Soaring Food Prices." University Business 11.8 (2008): 12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.

Nothing Common About This Coffee Shop

               Probably the most recent restaurant to open up on campus is the Common Grounds below Champions Court 1. At first I was thinking this was just a coffee place like Starbucks or another average coffee house. Then the other day a friend mentioned that he really liked their milkshakes, and as we started talking, I figured out that it was so much more than a coffee place. Therefore I just had to try it for myself.

               So today I went to Common Grounds to eat lunch. The first thing I noticed was the surprising lack of a long line to order. This is kind of strange, especially on a college campus, most if not all of the other places to eat on campus have dreadfully long lines just to get your order into the system. Then I got a look at their menu, to discover many more lunch options than I had expected from a coffee shop. From the looks of it Panini’s were their specialty but they had sandwiches and other items as well.

               So I’m not a huge coffee fan so I didn’t look at their coffee menu in great detail, but it looked like they had a pretty large selection of specialty drinks. What I did order was a milkshake, but I looked over the flavor options and saw that they were mostly fruity flavors. When I got my “milkshake” my suspicion was confirmed; it wasn’t a milkshake as much as it was a smoothie. Then I began to wait for my food and waited and waited. It took quite while for them to make my sandwich. It was mostly likely from the speed they took orders that they built up. I eventually got my food and it was good, but by the time I got it my milkshake/smoothie was halfway gone.

 http://uky.campusdish.com/Locations/CommonGrounds.aspx

Eat like an Engineer

               So the other day I decided to try out a new place on campus called Rising Roll Gourmet. I had heard good things about it, so I had to discover these things for myself. It’s located in the Ralph G. Anderson building within the Engineering quadrangle. Most of the engineering majors have already been, but it seems like it’s a pretty well-kept secret within the engineering community.

               So like most, if not all, of the on-campus eateries its line gets pretty long around mealtimes. This is normal and well worth the wait. While I was standing in this line I noticed that they have a sign with a newspaper article on it. This article rated the top sandwich shops in the US. Believe it or not the Rising Roll Gourmet location in Atlanta was riding on top at number 1. This was surprising because I had never heard of this chain until I arrived on campus.

               Then I took a look at their menu. It had a plethora of hot and cold sandwiches, wraps, and soup. Reading some of the ingredients, I quickly realized this was no run of the mill sandwich shop, they had very unique combination of ingredients in their specialty sandwiches. One of the other things they pride themselves on is their fresh ingredients.

               I actually received my food not that much longer after my order was placed. This is very rare among the dining options at UK. Then when I turned to find a seat, I found out the downside to this great place. There aren’t a whole lot of seating options in the commons area. I was going to go outside and sit in the courtyard, but it was kind of a dreary wet day. The commons area is a very popular place; many engineers do their homework here and there is always tutoring going on. Overall I really like Rising Roll, but if their planning on more business they should really expand their seating.

 http://uky.campusdish.com/Locations/RisingRollGourmet.aspx 

To Outsource Or Not To Outsource?

I know I’ve been writing on a lot of articles lately but I am going to write about another one. In an article by Joetta Sack-Min called “The Outsourcing Question” she went over the pros and cons of outsourcing food services on the public school level. Even though there is a difference at the university level, she makes some very good points.

                Reports and studies are very contradictory when it comes to whether or not outsourcing will save money or not. Every school is different and thus has different needs. Those with experience in the financial side of the educational system encourage schools to find companies to meet the schools needs and to have a deep knowledge of the contract before signing it.

                There are some nightmare situations that some schools have found themselves in. A school in Neenah, Wisconsin found out that their contract with Aramark only covered $100,000 worth of debt obtained by the school’s food program. Sadly this was after they had already accumulated $354,000 worth of debt. Much of this was due to the high amount of benefits that the staff retained.

                There is a lot of opposition that goes along with outsourcing as well. The Service Employees International Union is especially opposed to these food service companies. They claim that their hours are cut and the food that the kids are getting is of less portions and less quality than before. The American Federation of Teachers are also getting in on the protest, telling schools that privatizing food services is not the way to go. They claim that these companies often don’t comply with regulations and there’s not much the school can do because of their contract.

                But as in most cases there is a flip side to this coin. There are many school programs that would say that they are very happy with their new business relations with these food service companies. They realize in the current market that the school alone would not be able to supply the quality or options of food without accumulating massive amounts of debt.

 

Sack-Min, Joetta. "The Qutsourcing Question." American School Board

Journal 195.6 (2008): 22-24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Sept.

2014.

Tackling Problems with Campus Dining

               In an article by Sonya Stinson titled “Moneymaking Meals” she gave examples of different success stories in campus dining from across the country. Most of these universities had a problem within campus dining had to change or else they were going to keep losing money. The solutions they came up with are great for these situations and are great ideas, but you have to be careful because what works at other colleges might not work on other campuses.

               The University of Pennsylvania did a complete overhaul on their biggest dining hall in 2012. As a result they received revenue increases from 3 percent to 48 percent at various restaurants within this facility. They also redid an old coffee shop located in their college of business to make Joe’s Café, which is now a very popular place on campus. They did some amazing things with their dining program but not without the help of Bon Appetit Management Company, the company in charge of dining at UPenn.

               At Mercyhurst University, also in Pennsylvania, they had a problem with students going off campus to eat just because it was closer than the dining halls. The Company that ran the dining services then decided to buy a food truck and run it at night around that side of campus. It helped the university keep the students’ business as well as providing a healthier option than fast food seeing as nothing served at the food truck is fried.

               Of the seven universities in this article, all seven’s dining programs consult with or outsource their dining operations through a private enterprise. This makes me wonder if the article was a bit biased to outsourcing as a solution since it’s almost like an underlying theme throughout the story. It wasn’t biased towards one company either they mentioned 9 different companies including Aramark, Chartwells, and even Subway. Either way, it supplied some great incentives for outsourcing even though it didn’t say it outright.

Stinson, Sonya. "Moneymaking Meal$." University Business 16.3 (2013): 35-38. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.

The Outsourcing Option on Campuses Everywhere

               An article EduExec, a publication for executives in education systems, addressed the issue of outsourcing. Even though it was written in 2005 and today’s outsourcing methods have probably changed, I think it held some valuable advice for other universities. It didn’t approach it from a certain stance as for outsourcing or against outsourcing, but rather to point out the benefits and drawbacks. They interviewed Margaret Plympton from Lehigh University; she is the vice President for financial and administration. She has a lot of experience with outsourcing, seeing as how Lehigh has been outsourcing its food service for the past 62 years.

               First off, she points out that there are certain things that a university is specifically good at. These things should not be looked at to outsource; it is much easier and beneficial to the school to manage the task internally. In many cases it is these tasks that define the university. For example, if education and research is outsourced, it is no longer much of a university. Even a decision to just outsource food services in a college that prides itself on its students’ environment could cause opposition.

               She also brings up that management is much easier to find when outsourcing. Once an employee reaches the top of their department or service they are much more likely to search for other jobs than to stay. In bigger companies they are in control of the staff and management is their problem.

               Lastly she brings up the point that outsourcing might not be as beneficial as the university might think. The company’s goals are not to sell their product at affordable prices or to improve the student’s experience, but instead to boost profit margins to attract investors. Taxes are also an issue that will boost a company’s prices, while university owned bookstores wouldn’t have to deal with this.

               These are some very good points brought up by a veteran in the field of college economics. I hope that the University of Kentucky weighed these options when deciding to outsource our food service. I guess we’ll find out over the next several years if this was a beneficial decision.


"Is Outsourcing An Option?: Lessons From Lehigh University." Edutech Report 21.9 (2005): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Where'd All the Food Go?

               Say you’re studying for a tough exam that’s coming up in of your harder classes. You study most of the afternoon and into the evening. Somewhere in all that studying you just happened to lose track of time. Then you realize that it’s 9 o’clock, and you’re really hungry by this point. Too bad, unless you have some money and time to spend you’re not getting any food tonight.

               That’s right Blazer closed at 8 each night, so it looks like that all you can eat buffet is out of the question. I’ve actually talked with one of my friends who works at Blazer, and he says that they are really understaffed most of the time. This might be a big reason of why they aren’t really open that late.

               But wait what about the Student Center. Nope, all the restaurants within the Student Center also close at 8. They are usually all packed up by 8 so don’t even try to sneak in there at 8:05 for a bite to eat. South campus has both Ovid’s and K-Lair which are both open late, so north campus has to have something, right? Wrong.

               The only places to grab a late night bite on north campus are the restaurants located about a block west of Champion’s Court. Even some of these restaurants close pretty early on weekdays. These restaurants are nice, but they don’t accept meal swipe or flex.

               So as you can see this is kind of a big issue for college students. The solutions is pretty simple though, either open Blazer or the Student Center later, or just build a new café/restaurant with later hours. I’m sure if students bring up this problem enough then Aramark or the school would have to do something; I mean just think of the profits they could be getting being the only restaurant open late.

http://uky.campusdish.com/Locations.aspx

Following Suit

I found a pretty good article today on outsourcing college dining when I was at the library today. It was discussing the views on a deal that Texas A&M made in 2012 with a company called compass that was based out of North Carolina. Their situation was very similar to what the University of Kentucky is going through with Aramark.

               The article explained that much of the initial protest came from the staff that was currently employed by Texas A&M. Many employees worried that they might not be hired by this new company or whether or not their benefits would be the same. So therefore in the contract struck with Compass one of their big points was that 100% of the university’s staff would be hired. This quieted most opposition to the deal. This is very similar to what happened at UK; the university made sure that its current employees were given jobs and taken care of.

               The other negative that was brought up was whether or not the students would be supplied for in this deal. When the company started its operations that fall, students noticed much more variety and quality of food. On the other hand the prices of food went up, and according to the contract Compass had the right to raise meal plan prices by 3% each year for the 10 year contract. Because I’m a freshman this year, I haven’t been able to notice a change in the food at UK. In Aramark’s first year under this new contract they actually lowered the price of meal plans.

               Texas A&M was one of the first universities to hand over their dining services to a private company, but it sure wasn’t the last. Now nearly two years later the University of Kentucky is jumping on the bandwagon and is actually benefiting even more than Texas A&M did in its first year.

Mogilyanskaya, Alina. "An Outsourcing Deal As Big As Texas May Have Even Wider Appeal." Chronicle Of Higher Education 59.17 (2012): 25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Fusion of Freshness and Flavor

               So I thought that I would try something new this week. There’s a small place called Fusion located on the second floor of Erikson Hall that looked like it was pretty good.         

               Sadly I decided to go right after I got out of class so the first thing I saw was the massive line that stretched more than half-way down the hallway. In case you didn’t know it’s not the best idea to eat on campus right after class gets out, because everyone who also just got out of class is thinking the exact same thing. The lines are usually shorter in the 20 minutes or so in the middle of the hour. This of course doesn’t work for all campus eats, for example Ovid’s café seems likes it’s packed when it opens and closes each and every day.

               After waiting some time to get to see exactly what they offered at Fusion, I got to see that their menu contained some obscure foods and also some normal lunch items as well. They had various sandwiches and wraps, pizza, and even quesadillas. Then I saw they had daily specials that were a little unusual; they had sour bamboo soup and even curry. They seemed to have a large variety of food that spanned many nationalities. They also offer a great Wildcat Deal at Fusion. You can get an entrée and two with your meal swipe. This is great when trying to use up all your meal swipes each week.

               Overall I would say that it is a great place to go try. The food is good and definitely a change from the usual. Fusion’s small size does create some big lines and there’s not an abundance of seating but that’s the only bad things that I can say about it. I recommend a trip over to Erikson Hall to try it out.

http://uky.campusdish.com/Locations/Fusion.aspx

Reliving the Past for K-Lair

               The new K-Lair in Haggin Hall has got me hooked even after only going there once. Some freshmen might not know that this isn’t the first time K-Lair has opened up on campus. So because K-Lair has become my favorite restaurants I thought I would share a brief history of the old K-Lair.

               K-Lair was opened up on the University of Kentucky’s campus in 1961. It was located next to Haggin Hall and used to be the football team’s locker room until it was converted into a restaurant. K-Lair’s name is even significant in itself. The K stands for Kentucky of course and Lair is because it’s what wildcats live in. The establishment celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2011 and was 52 years old when their old building was torn down in 2013 to make room for the new Haggin Hall. It was actually the second oldest restaurant on campus, short of the student center.

               In the early days of K-Lair they specialized in mainly burgers. As student’s changed their taste buds, K-Lair also changed their menu. Before it was torn down, they were growing quite popular for their chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches. The chef at the time also made a chili that made people have to come back for more.

               When UK announced in 2012 the demolition of K-Lair most students wondered, where would they go? The lines at Ovid’s were already long and the all-you-can-eat buffet weren’t exactly appetizing. It hardly seemed necessary after the renovation that had been done just two years earlier. Alumni also were disheartened because of all the memories made there. It was sad to see a piece of history go, but now that new K-Lair opened it can serve the Universities need of more dining options and also provide students with a great atmosphere.

http://www.kyforward.com/our-universities/2014/08/27/return-of-an-icon-k-lair-grill-is-back-on-uk-campus-in-newer-bigger-still-greasy-cool-form/

http://kykernel.com/2011/09/22/k-lair-celebrates-50-years/

http://outofthebigblue.com/2011/09/27/then-and-now-k-lair-celebrates-50-years/

http://kykernel.com/2012/10/24/knocking-down-k-lair-limits-students-dining-choices/

K-Lair Just Got Another Regular Customer

               Today I decided to go visit K-Lair. I had heard some things about the old K-Lair but they weren’t good things. I had also heard a lot of great things about the new K-Lair. After hearing mixed reviews I had to try this place for myself.

               Upon arriving at K-Lair I couldn’t help but notice the massive amounts of construction going on all around the restaurant. I wasn’t sure if it was finished or not because everything inside was clean and new, but there weren’t any people there at 11:30 on a Wednesday. So I walked up to the counter and looked at the many options they had to choose from. They had many types of burgers, chicken wings, salads, wraps, and melts. Many of these items were stamped with the Kentucky Proud logo. It seemed like as soon as I ordered I looked back and saw there was now a line ten or so people long.

               After I got my food and poured my drink from one of those massive drink machines with 150 different drink options, I found a comfy booth to sit at. I got to looking around and saw all the different seating options, the wood paneling, all the TV’s, and even the sign from the old K-Lair. It was just a great atmosphere. As I was eating, I kept seeing the manager doing odd jobs like refilling the drink machine, wiping the trashcans, and cleaning up trays. I couldn’t believe it, this manager cared so much he did these jobs himself instead of ordering someone else to. As a result, I respect this man’s character and know that when I come back, the restaurant will again be in pristine condition like it was still new.

               I liked K-Lair so much I was hesitant to post this for fear that everyone might discover this treasure hidden within Haggin Hall. I encourage everyone to go, but it might turn out to be one of those secret places that you don’t tell everyone else about. K-Lair is definitely my new favorite restaurant and I will definitely be going back soon.

Speech Reflection

I thought I did pretty well on my speech today. I guess I could have prepared more; I felt kind of nervous standing up there. My joke about 38% of students dropping out of school due to starvation went well. My slideshow didn't seem as flashy or informative as some of the other peoples' slideshows, because I decided I would just verbally say all of my information. When Ms. Compton held up the 4 minute sign, I was surprised it had gone by that fast. I quickly wrapped things up and answered questions.In fact I forgot about my slideshow for most of the presentation and I didn't even show the last slide. When answering questions I felt bad because I couldn't answer the question about off campus restaurants, and I had no clue why some places accept meal swipes and others don't. Overall I think I did well and I'm hoping for a good grade.

Ovid's for All

               Today, all throughout my morning classes, I was unusually hungry. Which leads to only one conclusion for lunch, Ovid’s. You see I had been there once before and I realized they have pretty large portion sizes and great food, so I had to go.

               I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’m a freshman or what, but I also found this café difficult to get to at first. It’s located in the William T. Young Library, but there isn’t an entrance to the restaurant from the library. So don’t look like a freshman and wander around the library for 5 to 10 minutes looking for Ovid’s. It’s entrance is on the back end of Willy T. facing Woodland Glen.

               Like Intermezzo the first thing you might notice is the line. Usually the line is pretty long and you can’t quite see the menu from the back. Once you do get a look at the menu though, you’ll see that the meal selections top most other places, except Blazer and Commons of course. Everything from hearty sandwiches to tangy wraps, and also a salad chef for healthy eating. Most of these food items they’ll make right in front of you at one of their two grill stations. They even have a Big Blue Special which is always amazing. They also offer a Wildcat Deal to use up those meal swipes.

               Once you get your delicious food you’re going to want to find a place to sit down and enjoy this meal. That’s when you might notice the lack of seating. There’s not an abundance of tables inside, especially not considering the popularity of Ovid’s, but no need to fear, just head outside and find a seat at either one of the picnic tables or a nice bench to sit.

Personally I’m not a coffee person, but for those who are there’s a Starbucks in front of Ovid’s. There are four Starbucks on campus, but this one is located in probably the most strategic place. I imagine this comes in handy when studying in the library or recovering from an all-nighter.

Ovid’s is a must eat kind of place; those of you on north campus who might not have ventured into the library yet should go and check it out. Overall I put Ovid’s near the top on the list of the best restaurants on campus.

What's an Intermezzo?

               I did a lot of exploration and experimentation with different eateries on campus for the first week of school. Especially because you get a little bored after a couple days of cafeteria food. One of the first places I found was a place called Intermezzo.  

               The adventure and journey to find Intermezzo was a bit of a challenge, and I was definitely trying my hardest not to look like a freshman wandering around campus. It’s tucked in the back corner of the second floor in the Patterson Office Tower. The kitchen is kind of small so the first thing you see might be the long line, but don’t worry it will be worth it.

               When you get a look at the menu you will see that they have many types of sandwiches for lunch and breakfast options as well. If you looking to get the Wildcat Deal, you can choose an entrée, 2 sides, and a drink. They have Philly cheesesteaks, chicken salad, and even a creative take on grilled cheese. As far as sides go you’ll see they have a plethora of snacks, soup, and fruit cups to choose from. With so many meal combinations it’s hard to go wrong.

               After you pay you might be disheartened to see that there are no more tables left, but don’t sweat it. There are plenty of seats just around the corner, benches above the stairs, and even couches downstairs. Watch out though, because of its close proximity to the professors’ offices, you might see one your professors grabbing a bite to eat. On the flip side, if you’re struggling in a class you could always ask your professor if they want to have lunch there sometime. Overall, Intermezzo might not be the biggest or the best place on campus to eat, but I hope you’ll find it to be a good alternative to Blazer or Commons. 

A Restaurant for Each Day of the Week

               I’ve seen a couple of signs around campus advertising different on-campus food options. On this sign they show the location of 7 or 8 different restaurants. I decided to look them up and found out there’s 18 locations on campus to choose from. They have everything from Einstein’s Bagels to a café called Intermezzo.

               Let’s start off with looking at the many options in the Student Center. If you’re looking for a meal in the Student Center, there are three places to choose from; Chick-Fila Express, Greens to Go, Subway, and Panda Express. I found that all of these locations accept meal swipes in the evening, which is a great way to get a change from the buffet. You will also be able to find one of the four Starbucks here in the Student Center.

               There’s also several restaurant’s that are located specifically in locations for different majors to take advantage of. For example, a restaurant called Rising Rolls was recently opened in the downstairs engineering commons. Most of these restaurants were put in places that were too far from the places to eat on main campus. There’s the ED-UK-ATE café for the education majors, the Ag Deli in the agriculture building, and the Apothecary café for those in the college of pharmacy. So wherever you are on campus, I’m sure you will be able to find a place to eat within walking distance.

               Then there’s always the buffets. Blazer Café is located in Blazer Hall, north of the student center. Blazer recently underwent a makeover so be sure to check it out. For those of you on south campus, you have the Commons Market, located near Kirwan and Blanding. It is supposed to be redone and moved closer to the library soon. Lots of exciting things are happening with UK Dining.

Discover even more options for food at http://uky.campusdish.com/Locations.aspx

Bad Marks for Aramark?

So if you're like me, you heard Aramark and wondered what exactly this company does. Turns out this company does many things mostly to help other corporations. They do Facilities Management, Uniforms and Work Apparel, Food Service and Refreshments, Lodging and Guest Accommodations, Clinical Technology Services, Cleanroom Services, and Energy and Commissioning. Aramark has achieved some very impressive titles as one of Fortune 500's World's Most Admired Companies, Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles, and Ethisphere.com's Most Ethical Companies. Like most companies, Aramark also has its blemishes. Just a Google search revealed that are several Aramark customers unsatisfied with their food services.

For example, just last month Aramark was fined $200,000 by the state of Michigan. Aramark is in charge of providing the prison food service in the Michigan prison facilities. Ever since the contract between the state and Aramark was signed last December there have been complaints of food shortages and insufficient meal sizes. These complaints resulted in the $98,000 fine issued this past June. The most recent problem was the reports of maggots and employee misconduct in the prisons. The company denies that the maggots were their fault and plans to implement new employing techniques, yet lawmakers in Michigan are unhappy and implore the governor to cancel the contract.

A longtime customer of Aramark, Vassar College, also has some very strong opinions on the company’s services. The students have become very verbal about the problems that are accumulating. Portions sizes have been a significant concern, along with prices of these portions. One would think that large corporations could get better deals than local grocers because they buy in such bulk. Another problem faced at Vassar College is the size and efficiency of the dining facilities. The main dining hall is becoming overcrowded and long wait times are becoming more of a concern. There are also not many options for vegetarians, vegans, or others with health concerns. After 25 years under the current contract, the College has now begun to reconsider their current deal with Aramark.

I’m sure the company could show me several successes for every complaint, but it makes me think what problems the University of Kentucky could potentially be facing. I guess the students will have to decide for themselves if the pros outweigh the cons when Aramark really gets going over the next several years.

 http://www.aramark.com/default.aspx

http://www.freep.com/article/20140808/NEWS06/308080159/aramark-prison-food-fines

http://miscellanynews.org/2014/04/23/features/campus-food-services-leave-students-hungry-for-options-aramark-contract-extended-alternatives-in-consideration/

A New Friend Was Made This Summer

So I wanted to start off my first post by summing up what’s been happening over the summer with the UK Dining program. UK has started up a new partnership with a dining company called Aramark. Some of the benefits of this partnership were outlined in an article in the Inside UK edition of the Kentucky Kernel.

Aramark first off promised to up purchase of local food products to 25% by the end of the 15-year contract. This definitely shows that they care about the local economy and also take advantage of the organic option. They also promised to lower the price of meal plans for the students, which is always appreciated. Several chain restaurants will be added in various locations around campus including: Einstein Bros Bagels, Burger Studio, Rising Roll Gourmet, Aqua Sushi, Taco Bell Express, Subway Cafe, Common Grounds Coffee, Greens to Go, Fresh Food Company, and even a Panera Bread. So I guess students should be prepared for construction possibly during the school year. There is also a plan now underway to build a brand new state-of-the-art Commons facility. It’s supposed to be 81,000 square feet located on the corner of Hilltop Avenue and University Drive. They're planning on building a new K-Lair and upgrading existing facilities as well.

The Question that immediately jumps into my mind is what is the cost to UK and if the University is profiting from this deal. I get that there is a lot for the students to gain from this deal, but would that be worth the amount of tuition we might be shoveling in for this deal to happen? There is definitely going to be many more options in the near future and as far as I can tell at this moment this partnership was a pretty good idea on the part of the University.