It is no surprise that Sodexo food has been a problem for Eastern students, especially these past couple of years. Students have been complaining about food and how it is not good compared to other colleges around the area or in other states. Fruit with mold on it gets served to students. Food poisoning has happened from undercooked chicken, and lettuce has been brown rather than green. Students have tasted food and spit it out because it tasted awful. The best options that Sodexo has given students is the ice cream sundae bar on Thursdays and chicken nugget Fridays.
Even with those two better options, there are not enough options available for students to pick from the rest of the week or the weekends.
People with certain dietary restrictions are not given good options to choose from. They have the salad bar and a small food line section that offers some form of carbs, meat, vegetables and that is it. Even those without dietary restrictions have select options, especially on the weekends. There is the grill, the pasta and pizza hut, the salad bar and the sandwich section. The pizza and pasta section are only open during the week along with the sandwich section. The limited options on the weekends require students to use their own money to buy things they want.
College students pay hundreds of dollars for a meal plan but half of the kids do not use it because of the food that is offered at Eastern. When they do get food from the dining commons, they end up wasting it and their money. A lot of students get groceries and spend their own money to buy them while also spending their money on the meal plan they have to have. If Sodexo is going to cost thousands of dollars there needs to be better options.
Along with limited options, one of the better places to eat on campus is the cafe called Zime. Zime is only open on weekdays with shortened hours on Fridays. Having Zime opened on weekends would be a good start in fixing Sodexo’s food problems. Zime does get busy but having certain hours will help with that and it is the only place that Eastern students enjoy eating at because of the better options
The other option to eat on campus, besides Zime and the dining commons, is Breezeway. Breezeway is only open during the weekdays and weekends from 7-11p.m and all they offer is fried foods and no healthy options for those who like to eat healthy while at school. There are no readily available options for those with certain diet restrictions and the concerns for cross contamination are high.
Sodexo needs to take into consideration those who have dietary needs when it comes to eating. A person should not have to walk into the place they pay tons of money for and not have any options to eat. A food service should be able to provide the best meals for their students. Not every student is able to afford grocery runs or ordering out, so all they are stuck with is the awful dining commons food. The pizza section would be the best available option but it is only open during the week. Having the sandwich bar and the pizza/pasta hut open would be another step in the right direction when it comes to Sodexo.
Making college kids pay for a plan they have to have means that Sodexo needs to step up their game. Either drop the forced meal plan so students can buy and make their own food without wasting money or give students better food options. One of the biggest drawbacks of Eastern is their food. If Sodexo were to fix this, things would start to look up but for now it is a huge problem that needs to be fixed.