By: Adaobi Ezeani (Whetstone Contributor)

Cochise Lucas/ Whetstone
More than 1,000 Wesley College students are served daily in the cafeteria.

By the time the weekend hits, those numbers are cut in half.

“Traditionally a lot of students go home or off-campus on the weekends,” said John Gula, director of food services for Aramark. “A look at the parking areas by late Friday afternoon is a testimony to that. There are approximately 60 percent fewer dining customers on the weekends and counts don’t return to normal until Monday.”

Many students who live on campus have no other choice but to depend on the cafeteria to provide them with a meal on the weekends. Many say they are frustrated with the quality of weekend food.

“It is like they don’t care” said freshman Rita Nwosu “During the week there is a variety of things for me to choose from but when the weekend comes there is absolutely nothing I want to eat. It’s basically a waste of a swipe.”

Some students say the best food is reserved for open houses.

“We usually see the largest amount of people in the café during open house weekend,” said senior Raven Nowell. “The food is more fresh and the café really steps up their game to impress the incoming students and their families.”

Gula said some changes are in the works.

“We typically receive very few responses on our dining survey that comes out twice a year,” he said. “These are designed to gain feedback and give students a voice to help change the program. Eighty to 90 replies max out early a thousand students who are on meal plans or use the store, Starbucks and the Den.”

Many of the changes implemented this past fall came out of the spring survey comments, he said.

Cochise Lucas/ Whestone
“Our new marketing manager has met with several focus groups on campus over the past weeks and we have gained some insight into some immediate changes we can make, and we promise to work on our consistency over the next several weeks,” Gula said. “We are working with the college on some additional changes for the future in regards to variety and hours which are always mentioned.”

Some students think the quality of the cafeteria’s food is bland overall.

“I visit the café about twice a day on average and overall it’s OK,” said freshman Lashon Brown. “It seems as though sometimes the food that they serve is the same every day and at times it get very tiring to eat the same thing day after day.”