No more rotisserie chicken! If you are a regular diner at Trim than this is what you should have noticed over the last few weeks. The focus of this article is to highlight and look into the changes that have happened at Trim. Sodexo, in their quest to ‘make everyday a better day’ for everyone who dines at Trim organized Food Focus Groups and relied on the Dining Advisory Board to implement these changes.

Amanda Steiner, one of Sodexo’s managers, noted that student input is very essential in structuring dining programs. During these focus groups, Sodexo revealed that having a constant menu that featured rotisserie chicken was a pilot program to determine how students would react to a menu of comfort foods served over a period.

Based on the feedback received from these focus groups, the menu was overhauled and thankfully, our rotisserie chicken days are over! Two of these focus groups were held and students were asked to rate their satisfaction with the menu in place and offer suggestions for improvements. Assessing the changes that have taken place in the last two weeks, these students deserve applause.

The Dinning Advisory Committee also made some inputs in support of the changes at Trim. They had meetings in the fall and threw their weight behind the ‘Trayless Trim Initiative’, which has saved over 7000 gallons of water. They also met this spring to assess the Comfort Foods Pilot Program and contributed to the exciting menu we have now.

Some of the highlights of last week’s menu, for the benefit of those of you who haven’t been to Trim in a while, were Sirloin Asian Beef Salad, Crisp Romaine, Crunchy Asian Greens, Customized Yoghurt Parfait and a selection of fresh fruits.

Sodexo is also rewarding you for supporting Tray Free Dining. On Thursday, dinner will be served outside. Prince will prepare his special jerk chicken & island rice. The Mediterranean tapas bar, Fresh salmon encroute, London broil, Mini slider bar, Italian flatbread, Caprese biggie sandwich, Individual upscale baked pasta, Thai byte vegetarian wraps and Shrimp bisque will also be on offer.

Sodexo strives to continue this trend of improvements. They have previously attended SGA meetings as an informal means of collating feedback about their services. Their partnership with Residential Life to demonstrate dorm safety in cooking was also another initiative in this respect. Stan Park, also a manager, commented that the managers are the face of the food. They would prefer you to walk up to them anytime you have an issue about the food. The comment cards are also another option to make your voice heard.

The question I ask myself after these continuous efforts to improve Trim is what triggered all these changes? Although the official story is that there are always ongoing changes at Trim, other stories flying around are that this is in response to the shift in traffic to Olin.

Sodexo does not have different tiers for Babson or Olin. In fact, they do not operate according to the tier system. They just structure the different dining halls to suit the location and size of the schools they serve. Although the percentage of Babson students eating at Olin and vice versa is about the same (15%) there is still a lot of traffic at Olin because 15% of Babson students is obviously more than 15% of Olin students.

Chris Kandus revealed that the reason why Babson students were allowed to eat at Olin in the first place was to increase interaction between Babson and Olin students and offer more convenience to students who often used the athletic fields on the Olin side of campus. This decision has also presented students on both campuses with more variety and options, which has been totally embraced by the Babson students. As to how long this will last, only time will tell.

~ By: Afua Biney