Lately, Davidson Dining Hall has been killing it! We’re already taking notice of the exciting pastries; they’ve been Super Bowl themed, Sesame Street themed, holiday themed, and many other types and kinds.
What about the Suggestion Box that AVI put out for students to give feedback more easily? Personally, I didn’t know this, and I know a lot of other students didn’t either, but apparently we have always been able to give input on the food and dining experience at Dave.
I had the pleasure to speak to Ester Reed a few times now, seeing her present at a SGA meeting and later thanking her for the presentation and the delicious smoothies. She was able to give me even more information on the Suggestion Box and all of the other events and services that Dave has been working on. The Suggestion Box was recommended by Caleb Lumbard who meets with Dining Services every week to serve as a student representative for what we want to see in the dining hall. “When he made the suggestion, we ordered the box right away. I took this one step further to roll out our “You asked, we listened” campaign. We were able to take student feedback and make changes as soon as the next day in most cases. While not every request is possible, we have added 40 new items based on the feedback we have received in just the last month,” she explained.
The box receives suggestions from students, and is also reviewed by Lumbard: “I review the feedback each Wednesday with Caleb. I then take the feedback to my team and we make a plan to put things in motion. Our entire team works to make things happen almost instantly in quite a bit of cases. I am very thankful to have such a passionate team who takes feedback from our guests seriously. The feedback box has been a great way to have open communication with students of ways to enhance our program. We have added new menu items, changed how certain stations serve items, and so much more. It has been refreshing to have students be more involved with our program,” Ester shared. After talking about the Suggestion Box, Ester said, “This will be a permanent resource for students to communicate with our dining team…The feedback box is here to stay.”
We all saw students camping out for the upcoming Gingerbread House Contest scheduled for Sunday, December 1st. Maybe you even saw me shivering in the cold – hey, camping out for the contest is a right of passage! Even if only one team was put on standby. Reed also saw all of us there, taking pictures and enjoying the excitement for Christmas events. Ester and Brandon, Director of Catering, oversee the event – Ester is extremely involved and excited for these events. But, Ester says, “What I am not excited about would be a much shorter list. This event is so special. I have never seen anything on this scale happen anywhere else. I look forward to seeing the creativity the students have. I love to hear the stories of how the groups have been discussing their plan of action for weeks prior to the event. I even enjoy how the students come in full of Christmas spirit, matching outfits and all. It’s really an honor to be part of this event each year.”
Speaking of festive events, the Cheesecake and Pie Sale for Thanksgiving, taking place November 25th and 26th, has been an annual event for decades. Until now, I didn’t know that the cheesecakes and pies were homemade; Ester was an amazing and informative resource. “I oversee the event, however, all our department heads in Davison work together to be sure everything goes as planned. Brian, our director of culinary, works with our executive chef Patrick and our production manager Ethan to be sure we have all product in house. Our pastry chef Kristie along with our insanely hard-working bakery team (Kayla, April, Flynn and Midge) have been working countless hours to make all of the delicious house made items for our guests to grab just in time for the holiday!” Make sure to try the oreo cheesecake; my family was very excited when I brought that one home last year!
The very first Dining Services Chili Cook off was the first in Saint Anselm College history. “It was an event with our Sous Chefs and our Bakery team competing for 1st place bragging rights. Marketing, Catering, Purchasing, Culinary and the Bakery departments were all involved to put this event on. It was a group effort! We planned this in our weekly manager meeting and everyone had ideas to contribute to the overall end result – including “I Voted” stickers as we intentionally held the event on election day”, Ester provided. “The Chili Cookoff was a HUGE success! Students, faculty and staff were all eager to try out all of the Chili’s and vote. The set up was perfect in the lobby and caught everyone’s attention. We had students asking when the winning chili would be served in the dining hall because they enjoyed it so much. The bakery made a “Sweet and Sassy” chili with cornbread croutons that ended up getting 1st place! Following the bakery team were two of our Sous Chefs, Shawn in 2nd and Jim in 3rd. The whole team had a blast with this event and it will be a yearly occurrence!”
Next time you see Ester or any of the dining staff, make sure to extend a big thank you to the team. They really do work so hard to make students happy!