This week, Sodexo announced that they are reducing the hours for the Dining Hall. This change is so that there can be an extensive focus on the labor shortage, a dilemma plaguing almost every restaurant in the industry right now.
Instead of closing at midnight, the Dining Hall will now close at 8 p.m.. Students that want to eat from 8 p.m. to midnight can now use a meal swipe at Chick-fil-A and Roger’s Buc Mart on weekdays and at Starbucks on the weekends. This change will last until the end of the semester.
Nov. 3 was the night they tested these new hours, and it was quite chaotic. The line for Chick-fil-A reached the exit sign of the Cave. The workers were overwhelmed trying to keep up with this sudden spike in customers, items ran out and machines broke down. Why did this overload in demand occur?
Students would much rather wait until 8 p.m. to eat Chick-fil-A than spend the same meal swipe at the dining hall. I do not believe this demand will slow down very much.
If Sodexo wants to offset these issues, they should consider expanding the options to Steak and Shake and perhaps even Einstein Bros. Bagels. However, I do understand this is a labor shortage issue. They may not have enough employees to keep multiple stores open that late, but if the current employees are being overworked, it would not be a surprise if they started quitting.
Not only are these options stressing out employees and the supply of the products, but their menu items are even more restrictive on students with dietary restrictions. The Buc Mart does have options for students with allergies or those who are vegetarian/vegan, but they are quite limited and lack variety. Students with these restrictions are probably not going to take advantage of this new format, meaning their dining options largely end at 8 p.m..
This is not a critique of Sodexo. While I do not agree with some of their business practices outside of their dealings with ETSU (look it up), I commend them for trying to make it easier on their employees during this labor shortage. The employees for dining services and Sodexo are great people who work extremely hard, yet they have students who have paid almost $2,000 for their meal plans, so they must provide options.
Their current strategy continues to stress out employees while cutting down on options. I am sure there are many things that I am not aware of, but to me, it would make more sense for Sodexo to cut down on the number of options at the Dining Hall rather than face a large number of students who would rather eat fast food.
Overall, this new program is too tempting for students, too limiting for others and too stressful for the current employees Sodexo has. Perhaps rather than cutting back on things, Sodexo could draw in more employees by increasing wages to at least $15 an hour. We know that they can afford it.
