Students who eat in University Housing Food Service are aware of the themed meals and made-to-order foods that are offered, but they may not know these features are specifically designed to keep them coming back for more.
Since students are not obligated to eat at the university's dining halls, they must function more like a restaurants, explained Monica Theis, registered dietician and senior lecturer in the food science department at UW-Madison.
'Just like a restaurant, University Housing's food service is customer driven,' Theis said. 'If there's a demand for it, it's there.'
Unlike other public institutions, like hospitals, prisons, nursing homes and K-12 schools, UW-Madison's food service does not receive state or federal funding; therefore no specific nutritional guidelines or meal planning is required.
'We answer to our residents,' said University Housing Food Service Manager Brian Burke. 'If there is a particular thing our residents are looking for, that's what we strive to provide.'
For this reason, comment cards filled out by diners are not taken lightly, according to Burke, who receives suggestions through University Housing Food Service's e-line.
'The next semester, the next month, the next week, changes have been put in place, based on something that has come up on a comment card,' he said.
'If students come forward and say they want something, then we try to get it on the recipe testing schedule and give it a whirl,' said Denise Bolduc, assistant food service director with University Housing Food Services.
Bolduc is responsible for meal planning, and is continuously searching for new recipes to add to the existing 8,000 in the service's system.
'I like to look at what restaurants are serving,' Bolduc said. 'If people go into those restaurants and buy those items, I'm sure that they'd like to buy those items here as well.'
With restaurants as their competitors, University Housing Food Services strives to offer a variety of food choices for students, both healthy and unhealthy.
'A lot of times, people will submit comments that all you have is deep fried stuff,' Burke said. 'Even if we were to take, say, chicken tenders off the menu, we would absolutely hear about it.'
Whether foods sell determines whether those items stay on the menu.
'Made-to-order' items have proven to be popular, so to meet demands, the food service has increasingly incorporated those items on menus.
Burke said every unit is responsible for 10 made-to-order items a week.
This concept aligns with University Housing's anticipated renovations to dining facilities, beginning with the one at Chadbourne Residential College in the summer of 2007. New facilities will have staffed platforms that include comfort food, grilling, deli and wok stations as well as self-service stations.
'We're trying to stay ahead of the game and prepare for this change,' Burke said.
From themed dinners to made-to-order entrees, University Housing Food Services hopes to continually excite residents' taste buds.
'There is a lot of variety here,' Bolduc said. 'It's totally up to them to decide what to eat.'
