Prior to spring break, Chartwells hosted dining focus groups to try to get feedback from the students on the quality of the dining and possible ways to improve.
Jen Ferrell, the associate vice president for student engagement, explained the purpose of the groups.
“Each spring semester, the dining team has been doing these focus groups and bringing in an external person to do them,” Ferrell said. “They were facilitated by someone from a totally different campus so that it provided the opportunity for students to be really open and honest with their feedback, to share the good, the bad and any challenges. Things they really like, things they really dislike. This is something that we now have been doing for a number of years in a row.”
Ferrell also explained how student participation with the focus groups has increased over the years they’ve been held.
“I know that the signups were at least triple what we had for signups last year,” Ferrell said. “I believe that the participation was also very high in the majority of those as well. So that’s great.”
Ferrell cited Keene’s new marketing director as a large reason for the event’s student turnout.
“With the new marketing director here for dining, the ability to actually spread the word, the ability to actually repeat the message in places where students would see it and to talk about it was huge,” Ferrell elaborated.
Patrick Friley, the resident district manager for KSC Dining, spoke about the way the dining focus groups have expanded since last year and gotten more publicity.
“We had great attendance this year,” Friley said. “There were upwards of around 30 students compared to last year, where there were only 8.”
Friley also elaborated on how they are implementing the feedback they received from the focus groups.
“I really look at the feedback to see what we can do for the fall semester and now,” Friley said. “Some of the things that were requested was soup on the weekends, since we didn’t do that previously. More steamed vegetables and more red meat proteins. We also had requests at the grab-and-go at Lloyd’s regarding salads and sandwiches.”
Friley said he thinks that the focus groups, combined with the survey sent out in the fall, help the Chartwells team personally connect with students.
“I actually personally go through all the surveys and read every comment,” Friley said.
Caitlin Cooney, the regional marketing director at Chartwells, further explained how the focus groups are operated.
“We do these at Chartwells properties across the country,” Cooney explained. “We host them to try and enhance students’ experience and it’s an opportunity that we get to do yearly. We hold them in spring and then we have the survey in the fall.”
Furthermore, Friley agreed with Ferrell that Cooney was a major part of the focus group’s success.
“She’s been really focusing on events like this to help benefit students,” Friley said.
Friley said he looks forward to the upcoming fall semester and to further improving the dining experience.
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
