New changes to meal plans and dining hours have rolled out this fall, promising to smooth demand, reduce meal stockpiling, and stabilize dining revenue. Three weeks in, the new patterns and features are stirring conversation among students.
The structure of student meal plans has transitioned from “traditional block meal plans to a weekly-reset system for all the meal plan types,” according to Calvin’s website. Residential students who are in their sophomore year can now choose from four options: Core 19, Core 17, Core 14, or Core 7 — representing a fixed number of meal swipes that refresh each Sunday. Upperclassmen in the Knollcrest East apartments or off-campus housing retain access to Knollcrest 60 or Joust 30 block plans.
Sophomore Ashley Fisher is one student who is having a hard time adjusting to the new system. “I could save meals if I was gone for a weekend,” Fisher explained about the old system, “now if I don’t use them, they just disappear.”
Starting last semester, all-day dining has been offered on campus (which starts from 10:30 a.m. –8 p.m. on the weekdays) and breakfast (7 a.m.–10:30 a.m.; on the weekends, breakfast starts from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.), and 10:30 a.m.–7 p.m.; Uppercrust 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends at Commons. The change has received positive feedback so far, according to Luis Aljona, Director of Hospitality Operations, particularly regarding schedule flexibility, which “has made campus dining more convenient than ever.”
The new changes also give students access to two “Flex Meals” each week, which are meal swipes that can be used weekly at Johnny’s or Peet’s. Aljona pointed to “a significant increase in the use of Flex Meals” to show that students value expanded dining locations.
Sophomore Calvin Schouten appreciates the concept of Flex Meals but wishes it went further. “It’s frustrating that they only cover certain things at Johnny’s like pizza or quesadillas — the same food already in the dining hall,” he said.
“Previously, students with Core 19, Gold 205, etc. could spend an unlimited number of their swipes as guest passes. Now, they are only allotted one guest pass each week, which means also that no student can host two guests at once,” says Alojona. This change promotes equity by focusing swipes on individual use to ensure each student “gets the full value of their own meal plan,” while reducing peak wait times and maintaining consistent service, he continued.This fall, the dining hall switched from using the Eatable app to a new app; Aljona confirmed that Eatable was discontinued and replaced with Transact, “a new app for meal plans and credit card processing”. Eatable was an app that allowed students to view their remaining meals, swipe into the dining hall, and order online from Johnny’s and Peet’s. Transact is similar to Eatable, but the stark difference between the two apps is Eatable allows you to have a digital copy of your ID, but Transact doesn’t have this feature. Transact also requires students to be taken to a separate webpage to view their meals, causing confusion for some students like Shouten, who says “It’s always a mystery how many meals I have left.”
Overall, the new changes have reopened the conversation between students and Dining Services, who remain committed to serving students with the best experience possible. As the semester progresses, Dining Services is always looking for ways to integrate student ideas and suggestions, encouraging students to utilize the feedback form located in the dining service office.
