As students have taken note, the dining hours for the Zorn Dining Commons (DC) and the other on-campus dining areas have changed this semester. There are a couple of reasons behind the change, most notably in regards to student feedback and the recent budget cuts.
Jen Ferrell, the associate vice president for student engagement, explained why she and the dining team decided to both cut and extend the dining hours for certain areas.
“The students have been requesting that the dining commons stay open at night,” Ferrell said. “And being good financial stewards, we needed to think of ways to keep our plans cost-manageable.”
Ferrell stressed that the budget cuts being made to the University System of New Hampshire played a large part in why the hours got changed and that the dining team had to use the money wisely, with where it was distributed. Due to the change in hours, the DC was given a larger portion of the budget compared to Lloyd’s Marketplace and the other dining stations, which also allowed the dining team to expand some of the options they’re providing for students.
Patrick Friley, the resident district manager for KSC Dining, provided some further insight.
“We looked at overall costs for labor. We looked at where we could shift the hours the most to benefit the students,” Friley said.
Friley mentioned that there was not a large majority of students using Lloyd’s and the other on-campus dining options outside of the dining commons later into the night and that fact played a part in why the hours for those stations were cut instead of the DC. As previously mentioned by Ferrell, the dining team received feedback indicating that students wanted the DC to have longer hours going into nighttime.
Friley also explained the student feedback that he has heard in the past couple of weeks regarding the changes.
“We hear a mixed value,” Friley said. “Some people love it. Some people don’t. I think it will settle down after the first couple weeks.”
Friley also expressed that they are open to students giving feedback about their experiences at the dining commons, and that they expect to hear more from the students about the changes in the next month.
Ferrell also pointed out that the change in budgeting at the DC allows them to incorporate more options for food.
“There are some things that we’ve been able to do that we weren’t before,” Ferrell said. “Like the stir fry station and the omelets we’ve had there.”
“Our chef spent a majority of the summer working on the menus,” Friley added.
Friley also touched back upon the improvements being made to the gluten-free section of the dining hall, and how they’re taking extra safety precautions to keep the food from being contaminated. The struggle to find a variety of gluten-free options at the DC was a point of contention last spring and something Chartwells expressed wanting to improve going forward.
“We have a more confined area for gluten-free options now,” Friley said. “We’re cooking gluten-free proteins in their own section.”
Some criticism has also been directed at the late opening of the dining commons on weekends, with the opening time being pushed back to 10:30 a.m., according to previous Equinox reporting.
In regard to the change, Friley said that they “looked at traffic patterns and made shifts to keep the late nights running,” the change being a response to the DC staying open until 9:30, over an hour later than their previous closing time.
Friley went on to say that none of the contact methods for the DC has changed, and stressed that they are open to student feedback.
“We have our voice to vision survey coming out,” Friley said. “And we will have our focus groups in the spring as well.”
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
