By: Cristela Guerra / BBC Managing Editor
Aramark, the company that handles student dining services at FIU, and a faculty committee are putting final touches on the new dining facility at the Biscayne Bay Campus set to finish construction at the end of Spring semester.
Now the question many housing students are asking: what’s for dinner?
Robecca Joseph, a sophomore living at Bay Vista housing doesn’t feel she’s asking for much: she just wants what University Park has.
“I feel that [University Park] has taken everything. We want a Breezeway Cafe, like they do. I want one-price for all-you-can-eat, the pizza, the pasta, the make-your-own pancakes with the salad bar, fruit bar, all of that,” Joseph said.
It seems she might get her wish. Two student forums were held March 1 at BBC in the cafeteria and in the housing community room to find student’s preferences of food and food venues. The committee behind the task force was present to poll housing students on what they want out of their eating experience.
This was one of various future surveys and forums to be held in order to get the overall opinion FIU students have on the new facility, particularly because so many go back and forth between both campuses.
Aramark will be building the interior of the new cafeteria, on the first floor between Academic I and the Wolfe University Center. The facility will include a kitchen area and create space for three or four vendors to serve their food.
Stobs Brothers is the construction company in charge of the new building as a whole; it will house the new cafeteria as well as the recreation center and should be completed by May of this year, according to Greg Olson, senior director of Student Affairs at BBC.
“That’s where we are in terms of the project, though nothing’s carved in stone yet,” Olson said.
Olson also said they’re waiting on Aramark for final decisions on other issues including vendors. There is the possibility, however, of there also being a convenience store in the new building or nearby.
The convenience store idea appealed to many students present at the forum because it would allow late night shopping for necessities on campus without having to leave campus in search of a convenience store.
“A lot of it has to do with the funding available. We haven’t verified the funding yet,” Olson said.
The hope is the fitness center and new cafeteria area will be open and ready for use beginning next Fall.
According to Felecia Townsend, director of business services who heads up the task force working with Aramark on the proposal for venues, the budget comes to $1.5 million to build the facility.
“We’ve asked Aramark for breakdown of this budget so we can get a gist [of] what’s included in the amount,” she said.
Some venues already discussed prior to the forums were Bleeker Street, a panini sandwich restaurant; a grill similar to the one already in the cafeteria and a convenience store that will be open later into the night.
“We did not share with the students exactly what Aramark proposed because we wanted a sense of what they wanted,” Townsend said. “We didn’t want to do that, rather we went in raw and asked both housing and commuter students what [they] would like to see.”
The forum brought many pallets to the table. Students requested a wider variety of food selections. Among those requested were Caribbean food, Asian cuisine, sushi and just a good home-cooked meal that isn’t too costly.
Townsend moderated the meeting emphasizing students to tell her what they wanted to see as they walked into the new facility.
Students in turn were given the opportunity to give representatives of Aramark, as well as the committee, new ideas on how they might serve the needs of those on campus.
She admits she was surprised at the amount of students that cook on campus for themselves, though many feel they don’t have much of a choice.
Jonathan Alexander Smith’s, a freshman who lives on campus said there isn’t much to be said as far as good meal options on campus go.
“I want more variety at BBC. There’s only like four different places you can get food from. There’s Subway, the grill, and the pizza [place]. After that, there’s nothing else,” he said.
Jonathan Garcia, a consultant within the Office of Business Services and Dining said it works to have freshmen on a meal plan in their first year away from home.
“It’s proven that meal plans are very beneficial for freshmen on their own in college,” he said. “There are a wide variety of plans, some [are] unlimited and some [are] blocks that don’t end until the following year. We’re not there yet at this campus, but in order to facilitate and buy in and build out we have to be certain there are a number of meal plans.”
Cedric Magron, a junior and housing student, felt the cost of adding a meal plan to their tuition was not a benefit and definitely not worth the extra cost.
“The meal plan should be optional; what happens then to students who pay for the plan, but prefer to cook in their rooms,” Magron asked.
James R. Wassenaar, executive director of student affairs operations and auxiliary services said after the forums they decided against a meal plan at BBC for that very reason.
“We aren’t going to have a mandatory meal plan because we didn’t want to impose the costs on students. There are only 300 students in housing [at BBC], which would not be sufficient to support a meal plan,” Wassenaar said.
The results of the first two forums were very similar to Aramark’s original proposal, according to Townsend, who is excited for what’s coming for the student union at BBC.
“I really see this as an opportunity to build up the community [at BBC] and create a better atmosphere and see the type of camaraderie that will happen as a result,” Townsend said.
-Additional reporting by Nicole Acosta
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