UT Dining: What’s all the fuss about?

University of Tampa has fast food options to choose from including Dairy Queen, Einstein’s Café, and Chick-fil-A .However, some student complain that it is not enough.

 “I just don’t think there is enough variety of food choice on campus…I pretty much eat the same thing every day,” says Sophomore Jarietta Saulseberry. While you hear a lot of whining from students about the lack of food variety on UT’s campus, most private colleges and universities in Florida offer fewer options at a higher cost. Rollins College, in Winter Park, charges students about $5,340 a year for 15 meals a week with only seven food venues to choose from.

  Furthermore, Saint Leo University charges their students about $4,630 a year for a meal plan offering only two venues, the main cafeteria and a grocery store. Stetson University offers their students about 15 meals per week for $4,820 a year with only two food places to choose from.  At Eckerd College, in Petersburg, students pay about $5,038 a year for a meal plan with only three food venues on campus.  Students at UT pay less for their meal plans and are given a larger variety of food selections.

For about $4,392 a year, UT offers students a meal plan of 15 meals per week with over 13 dining venues to eat at which is obviously more options at a lower price than the other universities listed.  From well-known venues like Chick-fil-A to International food venues, UT students are given a wide range of options for a healthy and abundant dining experience.  “I think we have more than enough options. It’s hard to complain about the food here when most university only has a coffee shop and a cafeteria,” says Junior Kayla Felix. “Students here are just being ungrateful.”

Although there are plenty of food locations on campus, UT dining services face challenges with catering to a wide variety of students’ taste. David Starkey, the Interim Marketing Coordinator of UT dining service, explains the difficulty they have pleasing every student while trying to maintain a large variety of options at the food venues. “You can never please every student,” says Starkey. “There will always be a student who is unhappy with the selections, we just do the best we can to please the majority of the students.”  He explains that there is a budget they have to stay within and most of the varieties of options they offer are seasonal.

While it may seem easy to have a large variety of food choices, there are many things to consider when deciding what food options to offer students.  Like most departments, UT dining services has a budget they must abide by. They have to consider how much something would cost, the amount of students it will appeal to, if they would make a profit from it, and will they benefit from that investment.  The cost of the selection is the first thing to consider because the dining team has to make sure it doesn’t exceed their budget so they are able to provide other options as well. Next, they consider how many students will enjoy this selection so they are not wasting money on something most students wouldn’t choose.  Also, it is important for them to calculate if a profit will be made because it would be pointless to offer a selection to the students if they will not be receiving a profit from it. The dining team not only focuses on offering options that would be profitable but also focuses on providing healthy and a variety of choices to accommodate those with specific diets.

  The UT dining team is committed to offering a variety of choices from recipes that include nutritious mix of ingredients, to offering educational resources for positive lifestyle habits. They also focus on health and wellness through the use of seasonal menus, featuring fresh and healthy ingredients from pumpkins to yellow squash.  For each season there is a unique produce that they often showcased in some of the signature dishes. For students who have special dietary needs, there are informational resources and customized menus to address those needs.  For example, the students who don’t eat meat have a vegetarian section in the cafeteria to choose from.

Although UT offers a large variety of food choices at a fairly lower price than most university in the area, there will be some students who are unsatisfied with the selections. The dining team is opened to new ideas and opinions from the students about things they could improve on, offer, and/or change. If you have any suggestions or comments about the dining services on campus or just would like some additional information regarding UT’s dining service, feel free to visit their website at dining.ut.edu.