By: Jose Morales Velazquez
It’s noon. She has exactly 30 minutes to grab a bite to eat before that statistics midterm. She heads to the cafeteria to order a fresh grilled cheese and some fries, only to find out:
“The grill is closed.”
Wait. What?
Students and faculty that have been to the Student Center lately may have noticed that the Peak Cafe made some major changes to its service model.
No longer an a la carte ordering cafe, the cafeteria on campus now only serves “weekly specials.” Items in these offerings range from old specials like chicken nuggets to old breakfast items that were on the regular a la carte menu like omelets.
Toward the end of the summer semester, cafeteria officials introduced a “Grab-and-Go” hot box for hot breakfast and lunch items along with a larger selection of pre-made food and snacks.
These changes were made “to be more convenient for the students and staff on campus while maintaining the ability to run with minimal staff, should the need arise,” said Cecelia Herf, a cafe employee.
Cece, as she is known to many, has worked there for the past two years.
The cafeteria went through some staffing issues during the summer and has been rebuilding its leadership and workforce for the past few months.
For the fall 2019 semester, cafe management approved the new layout.
“The bread on the burgers is always hard and crusty,” is one complaint heard during lunchtime.
Some students and faculty say they miss the old menu and servings. A common complaint being that the hot box removes the element of freshness to a lot of the meals, and the lack of grill menu items that can be ordered removes choices once there.