Hey, I’m beginning to feel a little rejected here …..  Last week I put this great contest in the “Comments” and I’ve only had one (1) person respond!  OK, the contest may be dorky but the prize is really great, one free sandwich at Quiznos every week for a whole semester!  That is sixteen (16) sandwiches with a net value of over $100.00 dollars.  I can’t imagine why you aren’t entering.

OK, I’ll give you just one more chance.  Answers need to be to me by Wednesday April 18, 2007 11:59 pm.  E-mail your answer to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Please make sure you include contact information.

Here is the lead-up:

One of the cornerstones of serving fresh, safe food is the use of gloves. 

Food Service employees are required to wear gloves when handling food and instructed to change them often and certainly when moving from job to job.

And the question:

How much money did Food Services spend on plastic gloves last year in all of our campus operations combined?

Now, get me those answers!

Your Comments:

Hi Dave!  Becky just wants to tell you how much she likes eating at Couch.  Here are the things she likes to eat:

peas

carrots

stir-fry

salad bar

youghurt with granola

lasagna

bread

pumpkin pie

vegetable beef soup

any chocolate dessert

Man all the food is so good!  Keep up the good work!!  :) :) :) Becky

Becky, I’m glad you have found foods you like.  Do you always talk about yourself in the third person like that?

I have a similar problem in the operations.  Every time I walk through and ask why something was changed I usually hear “Well we were told that’s the way Dave wants it done.”  I get calls from people who say things like “I have a student here that says Dave said they could ……”  I’ve got to get this Dave guy under control.  He seems to be everywhere, making “who knows what decisions” all the time.  He’s disruptive.  I am having a hard time getting him under control.

Dave - I will come to the caf anytime, specifically for the sweet potato casserole on the vegetation station line! It is fantastic! Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the positive feedback.  It is always nice to be appreciated.

I know a lot of what we do in Food Services has a tendency to seem common place for you but I’d like to brag a little.  OU Food Services is being used in a dissertation by a student at the University of Illinois who is looking into the “Best Practices of Successful Food Service Operation.”   We do have the reputation of being one of the best Food Services in the country and we have a lot of statistical data to back that up. 

OK, I had to brag, but don’t worry, we are never satisfied.  We have a lot of great new options and services coming your way.  The changes over the next few years will be nothing less than phenomenal.

Dave, Over Spring Break I was really disappointed that none of the food establishments on campus were open except for Crossroads (and very limited hours). I was one of those students who stayed on campus. When I did get off work, Crossroads was closed. I was pretty sad about it until I realized that I could use my meal points at the museum. I know you've been having some trouble with parents and students complaining about meal plans and point usage over Spring Break. Here's my suggestion - if the student knows they're staying on campus for the holidays, go to XCetra and stock up using meal points. Also, some meals from Crossroads and the museum can be frozen and reheated. That's what I did and it worked out great. Also, for the students going away for the holidays, it was made clear to me at the bursar's office that meal plans are not wasted over the break. Actually, they're just extra - like a bonus.

We discussed the spring break issue some last week.  As long as we keep the halls open over break we are going to have to provide some level of food service.  How we offer meals over break is a question we need to solve before next year.

A few weeks ago I got a box of Kebler rainbow cookies (on sale) at Wal-Mart for $2.00 I saw that Xcetera! is charging $4.50 for the same size, this is unacceptable, is there a reason for this? Also I would like to see a Crossroad's II in Adams

Is there a reason for this?  Well one, we can’t even buy the cookies for what Wal-Mart is selling them for.  Hard as it may be to believe, we don’t have the volume of a Wal-Mart.

I hate not even being in the ballpark on this pricing but that does happen when you compare our prices to a place like Wal-Mart.

Here’s the deal.  We are not some robber barons sworn to take your money every way we can.  We are a business that is self supporting.  We get no money from the University or state, we have to generate all of our own revenues.  Within this we have to provide you with all the services you want.  Variety, late hours, multiple card swipes on your meal plans etc.  We have a pretty simple formula that we use to price items in Xcetera.  When we can buy product at a good price we can pass that along to you.  Our Coke prices are lower on campus than at area convenience stores.  Are we lower than Wal-Mart, darn it no, there is that volume factor again.

We are trying to provide a service and convenience for you.  If you want to buy your Keebler cookies for $2.00 you will have to go to Wal-Mart.  What’s your time and gas worth to you?  That’s a decision we all have to make.  I personally like Albertson’s as a grocery store but when I go out on a major grocery shopping trip I will go to Wal-Mart because I know I can save $35.00.  That kind of savings makes it worth going to Wal-Mart and you know I’ve never asked Albertsons why their Keebler Zesta crackers cost $1.00 more per box than the same product at Wal-Mart.  I guess I just take that as a fact of life and go on from there.

 Dear Dave, As a transfer to OU in the fall, one of things that I was most excited about and impressed with when I arrived was the food. I had more options than I knew what to do with when it came to vendors…and Couch? WOW. I was floored by the all-you-can-eat healthy (and some not-so-healthy), fresh, and amazing tasting food. There were so many things to pick from! It was obvious to me that it was the product of many years of effort to get that operation to the quality that it was.

After a week or so here, I discovered Kitchen Comments. What an ingenious idea! Why not give those who actually eat at these places a chance to voice their opinions? I love reading every issue, catching all the humor involved and being able to actually see you respond to requests with a quick turnaround. Everything from providing free range beef to pickle packs to making sure that the soy milk is in plain sight and kept cold – you really do listen to reasonable requests. You’ve gone above and beyond what I could have ever imagined someone in your place would ever choose to go.

On the topic of requests, there’s a real problem I want to address. What’s the deal with all these ridiculous people and their off-the-wall complaints? There are loads of great-tasting Lenten, vegan, and gluten-free options available, many more than would be found at most restaurants. I don’t observe Lent, I love meat, I’m not allergic to any food product, and I find myself eating the special food! And as for hours of operation and cost of the meal plan…they have no idea how good they have it! I spent four years at a regional university, having to eat whatever they could manage to cook. We had a smaller version of Xcetera, a grill-to-order area with four lines and types of food (which was good, but not all-you-can-eat and was closed on weekends), and the cafeteria, which gave us three unhealthy and disgusting entrée options and an even worse salad bar. That’s all! There wasn’t a single food vendor until last year, when we got Freshens. I paid $890 for 12 meals/wk and 100 meal points a semester. When they renovated our grill area, we still paid that much and spent NINE MONTHS with only the Xcetera store and the cafeteria from which to pick. There was no Kitchen Comments, and if our student government managed to get a request to the right people, it would take months for something to change.

All that to say, I am so pleased with everything that I’ve found here at OU. I hate it when whiny people make it their business to upset you. I truly appreciate all that Food Services does for residents. Even during the ice storms, I was so pleased with how things were handled (and not-so-pleased with all the absurd comments that you received after that…I’d like to see them handle the situation better!). Thanks for helping to make my year a great one!

I certainly appreciate all your comments.  I have often said that our greatest supporters are folks that come from other schools and been exposed to what is out there.  I do have a few follow up comments however.

First, I welcome all the comments and feedback we get.  Do some of them sound silly?  Oh, from time to time but we can learn from every comment and I think that if a student takes the time to write a comment then I / we should take the time to respond, it’s apparently important to them at that time.

I can’t imagine a time when we will ever think that we are “good enough.”  Our folks are dedicated to making food service better, little by little, step by step.  I don’t think I’ll ever get up in the morning and say “well I think I’ll go to work today and not change a thing – we’re perfect.”  None of us will, because we know that once we get that kind of attitude it won’t be long before our services start to go downhill.

In defense of your last school it sounds like they had fewer resources to work with.  It’s sort of like my previous Wal-Mart answer, it may not be fair to compare because there is so much difference in size and purchasing ability.  With a meal plan price of $890.00 they were substantially below what we charge for meals.  While I can’t address the lack of response from management, I know that we could not provide all the services we are providing with that kind of rate.

Dave, Who is this "Katherine" of "Katherine's Mom's Neatsy Meatsy" a weekly Wednesday lunch special? I am just dying to know. Thanks Dave,  Curious in the Caf

It was one of the recipes sent in on our “Meals from Home” program many years ago.  I don’t know if we can find out who Katherine really refers to, after a few years the entrée names become generic and the students who sent them in are long gone from the cafeteria.  Still, you don’t get rid of a good thing ….

I love eating at Crossroads, however every time I get the hot chocolate, I get mildly ill later in the day.  I am not sure if the milk is not being heated high enough or what.  Please look into this issue (those of us who don't drink coffee need something warm to drink too!). Thanks! 

Are you sure you aren’t lactose intolerant?  The milk we use in our drinks is kept refrigerated and then heated by the steam wand on the espresso machine.  Even if the milk is not being heated to 165 degrees I’m not sure there is anything about it that would make you sick.  I’ll sure look into this.

Dear Dave, Some friends and I were talking about the new changes to the caf and Cate food court.  We were wondering if you were still going to serve pizza in the Cate food court next year, since Block and Barrel is going into the place where Crimson Crust is.  If you don't do a full buffet could you just bring back the little personal pizzas you had two years ago.  Those things were awesome and so much better than the larger pizzas.  I know that students will love those pizzas if you have them next year. One other thing.  I hate the grilled chicken on campus.  I have tried it both at the caf and at Block and Barrell and I can't eat it.  It tastes like it was boiled in a plastic bag (and it probably was)and a pound of pepper was dumped on it.  It is so peppery that it is spicy and it just doesn't taste good.  Can you please get us some new grilled chicken, because I really won't eat the kind you have now. Jessica

With Couch being open until midnight next year and with the Pizza and pasta at LaRoma being “all you care to eat” we were actually thinking of doing away with pizzas at Cate altogether.  I’ll check to see what we are doing with our chicken.

Dave, I certainly hate to be one to whine about things that are beyond my control, but I feel my experience at Burger King tonight(4/10/07) has left me little choice. Granted, it is probably not entirely wise on my part to go to the restaurants just as the meal exchange hours are beginning, at least not if expect quality service. I've worked in restaurants, and I know how hard it is for food workers when the rush hits.  However, that is no excuse for shoddy service. The man taking my order tonight had to punch in about 20 different buttons for my order-a #6 combo meal with pickles. Not complicated. I then had to wait about 20 minutes for my food, which was lukewarm, and run to my dorm in the pouring rain only to discover that what they gave me is not what I ordered! As I said, I hate to whine, but I notice that MANY OTHER PEOPLE have complaints about the SAME THING, and to the best of my perception nothing has been done. The restaurants I worked at penalized me for getting an order wrong, why is the on-campus Burger King an exception? On a side note, while I have your attention, I hope you seriously consider changing the meal exchange hours from only certain times during the day to all day. With all due respect, we as students pay for our meal plans, so why can we not choose to use our meal exchanges wherever we like on campus whenever we like?  Thank you.

I’ve already heard from the BK owner about your e-mail, he is looking into the night in question.  Please e-mail me from your own account so he can contact you directly. 

Your meal plan has two components, meals in Couch and Meal Points.  We give you a number of meal plan options that help you have more points or more meals depending on your desire.  Meals are set up to eat at Couch, Meal Points are intended for other locations on campus.  We realize that you can’t always make it to Couch when it is open so we have allowed exchanges at other FS operations around campus.  We will continue to control when and where you can have exchanges because in the end it has a very big impact on our budget.  For the most part exchanges can be used at other operations only when Couch is closed.  I do not see that changing without other major changes to services.