You Talked and We Listened

We have always acknowledged that our guests feedback plays an integral part in creating a successful dining experience. Therefore, we conducted a survey to collect students’ thoughts on how they think about the food, service and what they expect to see on our menu as well as future activities, thereby helping us improve our dining services and be able to bring more variety and quality meals to our students. We have received lots of feedback through the survey from both students and faculty. First of all, we are very thankful and proud to receive many good reviews about our services. On the other hand, we are also aware of the problems that we and our students are experiencing, and we are working to fix them day by day.

In terms of shortcomings, the first and most urgent problem that needs to be resolved quickly is that plates, cups and utensils are dirty. We have addressed this issue and talked to our team members to fix this problem, but we apologize that this situation has occurred. The second issue that we saw as a common occurrence in the survey is about the pink chicken. One factor that leads to the chicken resembling the color pink is due to the ingredients we use to marinate the meat which is red wine vinegar. We are going to eliminate the red wine vinegar and find an alternative ingredient. We will closely monitor the stages from preliminary processing to serving to ensure the quality of the food is always up to standard. Another shortcoming needed to be mentioned is the lack of variety of food options. The majority of survey respondents would like to see more plant-based options, more dairy-free options, Asian foods, healthy foods, especially the return of smoothie bar. We plan to have Bravo! in the Dining Commons open this semester with a variety of menus. However, due to a shortage of team members, we are sorry for not being able to open this station to serve our students. We are looking at a solution to open Bravo! one day a week because we understand how much students are looking forward to the food at Bravo. We also plan to bring smoothies and toasties back to Bravo! Express in the Gallagher Center, but due to a manufacturing issue with our ice machine, that has been delayed. Look for them soon!

Besides the challenges that need to be overcome, we are also very appreciative and proud to be recognized for our swift and friendly services. And to achieve such a good service, it is mainly thanks to the help and hard work of our wonderful team members. Students also prefer the convenience and accessibility when dining with Metz since they do not have to go far to get food when they are hungry, but the food is always served hot and fresh at Dining Commons until 10:30 at night, Sunday through Thursday. Moreover, students find the take-out option is very convenient which allow them to bring their favorite food items to their dorm. Last but not least, we also received lots of positive comments for our desserts at the Bakery, especially  the cupcakes in the Halloween Theme Dinner were very popular. Students also love how we also have different vegan options that are always fresh and delicious.
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This survey has given us more insight into issues and also gave us lots of ideas for improving the quality of food and service. We will always listen to our guests’ thoughts in the future to further improve and increase the value of not only Metz at Niagara in particular, but also Metz Culinary Management in general.