Kitchen Cabinet
November 14, 2016
Steve Kjellgren, Jeri Miller, Jen Donkin, Annelise Cox, Shelby Pankratz, Erin Baumann, Jim Dontje,
Alan Meier, Patrick Neri, Jessica Braun, Chick Niederriter, Mark Hanson, Erin, Kuiper, Margo Druschel, Michelle Rusinko, Tarnim Lamisa
Odssey – 8 reasons of coolness
Shelby Pankratz – Editor in Chief – on line publication & website. 8 reasons why Gustavus food is better than your school. Summary:
1. Hours
2. Environmental protection & sustainability
3. Fresh (& seasonal) produce
4. Dietary alternatives
5. Flexible meal plan
6. Variety in daily offering
7. The staff
8. Most importantly: the waffle makers
Wrote the article as way to convince students why they should come to Gustavus.
Shares via Facebook, Twitter & shares with staff. A lot is word of mouth. Not officially affiliated with student orgs. Contact Shelby if you would like to write an article
KC Converstaions
Paul M (Steve K.) – KC Conversations – this wed – beginning administration of customer satisfaction survey. Boxes will be in the MarketPlace & Courtyard Café for people to return. The survey is for faculty, staff & students. There is a rating for how satisfied & importance for each question.
Need a minimum of 400 surveys from the MarketPlace & 200 from Courtyard Café. Steve will administer 4 different times to get a variety of respondents and will have salsa & hot sauce sampling to help get interest. Questions brought up by the group: Is it OK to pass out to students while eating? How capture students not eating in the caf (apartment dwellers, etc). Would electronic version be better to reach that population. Should Steve send student email to get them excited about it. Have cashiers remind patrons when checking out? Erin offered to help sent out to student orgs.
Coke Grant / Big Hill Farm
Coke grant process changed this past year from open request & filtering through to multiple groups to focusing on one or two large projects and the coke committee would choose. Project focus this school year:
– Health service – Learn to live (online mental health resource) & digital health services
– Bolster & solidify the big Hill Farm. Build the infrastructure & program utilizing the new greenhouse & make the garden better. Rolling out this year but some bumps in the road – no continuity in interns, germination, etc. Also offering local food special topics course – the students in the course work on developing the course & get academic credit. Held spring semester under special topics designation. Time for class is created based on students schedules.
Goal 3.7 of Gustavus strategic plan speaks to sustainability. Jim is also working on getting another grant. The Coke grant amounts to $20,000 annually with criteria of being educational, well being focused and sustainability minded. . Margo expressed concern taking away student initiatives & creating more long term expenses for the college given current financial state. Need to ask questions about sustainability of these projects that are developed. Could we also take this as a seed to continue projects that the college does want to take on & continue to do – such as end of year garage sale. Jim suggested doing a flip program & support programs with funding that helps continue a program vs jump starting? Other questions/suggestions:
– Future – alternate large & small projects or do a mix each year?
– Monies could go to sustaining some projects
– Erin is working on a project looking at compostable cup or reuse cups. 12 or 16 oz size offered in courtyard. Advertising where the compostable cups can be discarded & encouraging students to bring their own cup to save money. Could save approx. $22 over the school year. Will be making posters to advertise.
What should we do / Not do – Small group results:
Three groups of 5 answered the following questions (3 responses each)
What Makes Gustavus Dining Service Distinctive?
Independent operation (not a contract) (2)
Ala Carte service model (2)
High quality
Sensitive to needs of the community (responsive, adaptable, caring, current/relevant) (3)
Open and accessible – physically & philosophically
Commitment to Fair Trade
What Should Gustavus Dining Service Never Stop Doing?
Listening to students (3)
Independent operation
Hour of service
Being open to change (see listening and open/accessible?)
Offering many food and beverage options
Ala Carte Service model
Belief in excellence
What Should Gustavus Dining Service Consider Discontinuing?
Problem with theft (how to discourage it? Barriers? Press charges?) (2)
Theft – does the open feel make it more comfortable for students to steal? If caught twice goes through dean of students. Portable high ticket items most often taken – core power, beef jerky, etc. Losses built into cost of program – can we educate students on this? Theft seems to be competition between some student groups. Has become normalized in some ways. Would a sign campaign help educate?
Offering Bottled Water (3)
Has been discussed – how proceed if the way we want to go?
Retail chips/candy/snack items (unhealthy ones)
Need to offer students what they want
Offering Gustieware (?)
How get students to use responsibly? Currently – Dining staff go to the residence halls daily to collect at 6am. Could we have a report on what is happening with Gustie Ware – how much is spent yearly & cost to students to replace yearly. Charge deposit every time leaves – how return the deposit or no deposit & just pay upcharge?
Climate in summer in Campus Center (?)
Is this the temp in the Dining Hall or the Busyness of the campers in the summer?
What Should Gustavus Dining Service Consider Doing New?
More education on “Healthy Eating”
Integrate with Dignity Project/Show the work being done “behind the scenes/dirty work”
Separate meat on salad bar and grill (context?)
Vegetarian students prefer meat in separate area in the salad bar. Use separate tongs at grill for meat & potatoes. Different gloves in deli. Dining service Needs to do better job in this area.
Rent gray board (?) where does stuff go? Gustie Ware/Disposables/Food Waste/ (?)
Having themed events
Student groups need to communicate
Install compost/Trash/recycle /Gustie Ware bins all over campus
Steve is working on this – long range plan. Will create more work for dining & physical plant
Breakfast in the pizzeria/expand breakfast – plant based/culturally sensitive
What Sometimes Irritates You in the MarketPlace?
Long lines (2)
Nose level in Evelyn Young Dining room (2)
Hours of stations – (well, when do you want what?!)
Lack of respect for workers/community/resources – theft waste sorting, privilege attitude (4)
Fair Trade Visit – Banana report
Great collaborative program with St. Peter Co-Op and their banana exchange. Farmer visited from Ecuador. Approx 50 attended – from GAC & the community. Great educational event. Patrick felt there was not enough advertising on campus and locally in media.
Campus Kitchen Delivery on Fridays
Baked goods every Friday 8am delivered to Campus Kitchens at MSU. Intent was for this to be student run, but hasn’t happened. Steve and Paul have been making the deliveries. Looking for students to volunteer & be part of this. Student has to have proof of insurance. There isn’t reimbursement for mileage. Easy parking & easy in & out
Campus kitchens does things locally for students at MSU that don’t have enough to feed themselves. PB & J sandwiches, coffee/cookies & also package meals for CADA, Theresa house, etc. We are supplying baked goods to help this cause.
International Students
How do we involve them in menu design? Some international students have been grumbling about lack of choices. How do we get these students to communicate their likes/wants? Start the conversation during orientation? Once we establish network to get the conversation going we can eliminate a lot of the unhappiness. Patrick was recommended to talk to Andrea Junso to get this topic added to orientation. Erin suggested online way to put suggestions on “what are you hungry for”? Have as a kitchen cabinet conversation? Changes in menu can happen easily.
Another good time to communicate is at Gustie Gear up in June. Unfortunately students from far away don’t often attend this. Do this during orientation time instead/in addition? Also could this question be added to the ipads in the MarketPlace? The number of international students has dramatically increased. Jim stated “we have invited the people now we need to make them feel welcome”. Steve & Jeri do speak to them at orientation. How else do we get feedback from these students?
Can the DLC have a subgroup to work on this further?
Can this go out to FTS as a reminder?
Halal meat more often – What, when?