The Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee discussed additions to the Great Hall Monday. The group toured the facilities and learned about the dining hall’s daily operations.
The Great Hall hopes to install an organic produce stand Nov. 9 that would be stocked with food grown in the community garden beside the Smart Home, said DUSDAC member Whitney Woodhull, a senior.
“The whole idea is to enhance the sustainability of campus and make great use of this great produce we already have growing on our campus,” she said. “As students start seeing the Great Hall as somewhere they can grab some yams or butternut squash to take back to their apartments... hopefully this will be sustainable over the next few years.”
The Great Hall will also order produce from distributor East Carolina Organics to supplement its organic produce supply, Woodhull said. She added that students will be able to purchase the produce by the pound and should expect stocks to vary by season.
Woodhull said she does not currently know where proceeds from the produce will go.
DUSDAC members also toured the Great Hall’s kitchens and storage units. Great Hall Manager Tony Preiss described the ordering, stocking and cooking processes to the group and discussed challenges Great Hall employees face due to space and time constraints.
Still, Preiss said the small spaces are manageable because the University is conscientious about maintaining the space gives chefs and managers creative freedom.
“The same challenge makes it a charming building to eat in, so we understand that,” he said. “When you go into the dining room and look at the grandeur and the spectacle of it, you’re like, ‘Well, it’s a trade-off like most things.’ So even though it’s not designed for maximum efficiency, Duke has been very accommodating in trying to update it and maintain it.”
Co-Chair Jason Taylor, a senior, wrote in an e-mail that the group feels it is important to develop relationships with the managers and operators of the Great Hall, which he called “a center of upperclassman dining livelihood and social interaction.”
“We wanted to see just what improvements we could offer the Great Hall, and how we, as a student group, could help them move toward a vision of their eatery that would be both enjoyable and innovative to students, yet economically and pragmatically feasible for a business such as themselves,” Taylor said. “Tonight, I feel like we accomplished that, and I’m excited to see some of the changes we suggested be implemented over the coming weeks.”
In other business:
The committee heard updates on Armadillo Grill and The Refectory. Woodhull’s update brought up concerns about salsa flavor rotation, margarita prices and audio equipment for bands who play at the Dillo.
Senior Caroline Yoder updated the group on The Refectory, and members discussed adding more vegan options and advertising of the eatery’s second location at the School of Law.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.