Ashland University Auxiliary Services has a long history of excellence in the dining program. Receiving over 20 national awards, AU stands out among corporate-run dining services, such as AVI…fresh. Fred Geib, the general manger of Ashland’s dining services, promises AU won’t outsource.

Convo was compared to other schools, such as the University of Mount Union, Kenyon College, Baldwin Wallace College and the College of Wooster to see how it stacked up to other dining services.

Cafeterias

Whether the dining services are run independently or by a large company, the goal is still the same: to provide quality service and food for students.

For the dining services staff at Ashland, continuing to supply quality food and services is crucial in standing out in the competitive market. Geib makes it known that quality food is the deciding factor for many students in the process of choosing the right school.

“Students aren’t going to school just for an education,” Geib said. “It has to have the wow factor.”

Like Geib, Christine Litten, the service supervisor of dining services, believes having a quality-based dining service allows Ashland to market benefits of the school to prospective students.

“The food services are used as a public relations tool,” Litten said.

With this, Ashland’s dining services works to stand out from other universities. They were the first university in America to break away from the “lunch lady concept,” Litten said.

Additionally, Ashland’s dining services brings in local foods; one place in particular is Smiths Dairy. Several of their food choices include steak tips, authentic rolled sushi, oriental specials, customized sandwiches and make-your-own pasta.

As dining services looks to expand their facilities in the upcoming years, they continue to strive for close-knit relationships with the students.

“There’s no other reason to be here but for the students,” Kevin Burke, a chef at AU, said.

As a self-oriented cafeteria, Ashland must concentrate on improving, because company-run universities are well on their way to catching up.

“We are ahead of many other places, but other universities have made steps toward meeting us,” Geib said.

At the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, AVI…fresh runs the dining service on principles similar to Ashland’s.

AVI is the largest family-owned food company located in Warren. They took over Mount’s dining services seven years ago in 2004. Since then, quality of food and service has been improved.

“We provide top quality food service and innovative leadership in an environmentally responsible way as a private held company,” Jim Croker, the executive vice president of AVI’s college division, said.

Croker’s company, similar to Ashland, looks to buy food from local companies in hopes of spurring the local economy.

“We purchase a minimum of 20 to 30 percent locally to stimulate jobs in Ohio and the economy,” Croker said.

AVI distinguishes itself among food companies by offering unique products that are rarely offered. Some of these products include homemade breads, freshly-made sushi and grinded homemade peanut butter.

AVI looks to stand out as a company. In order to do this, they’ve expanded to several locations in Ohio and surrounding states. These universities include Kenyon College, Wesley College and Sarah Lawrence College. At Mount, the switch to AVI has been a success.

“It’s definitely a partnership,” Danielle Cunningham, director of dining services at Mount, said. “They own all the equipment and we worked on the renovation…This is a revenue generator for both the school and AVI.”

Mount promotes “Stealth Health,” a program put into place to help students in their struggle to eat healthier. The dining services are centered on a new and improved healthy diet that makes dining in college more beneficial.

“We do anything we can to help with the health issues,” Cunningham said.

Food choices and ingredients have been picked in order to support a nutritional, well-balanced diet. Burgers made of 90 percent meat and 10 percent fats are known as the “better burger,” Cunningham said. Along with burgers, whole grain breads, pastas and cookies are offered. Organic milk and vegan cheese were also added to the menu after the switch.

Although Mount is run by AVI, Cunningham doesn’t feel as if she’s distant from the Raider family.

“I feel as if I can do whatever I need to do to make the Mount Union community happy,” she said.

Hours

Ashland’s services are offered 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and vary on the weekends. They offer another location for late night food after hours at the Eagles’ Nest, which now brews Starbucks coffee.

Mount’s dining services are open Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday until 6:30 p.m. Times vary on the weekends, similar to Ashland. Not only does Mount have their main dining hall, but they offer food after hours at B & B Café, another food location on campus in the student center. Similar to Ashland’s Eagles’ Nest, the B & B Café serves Starbucks coffee as well.

Staff and faculty dining

Over the years, Convo has changed its policy for staff and faculty dining. While they used to be able to eat free for one day a week, they now have to pay for their own meal each time they come in.

“The intent was for faculty to come and eat with students to mentor them,” General Manager of Dining Services Fred Geib said. “It didn’t exactly work that way. Some took the time, but it always seemed to be the same [people].”

The free meal for faculty was taken away about three years ago. While some may think that Convo just does not want to pay for meals for teachers anymore, it was actually the provost that provided the money for the teachers to eat there.

“It is not in our budget to provide those meals,” Geib said. “We’re here for the students, so we would rather spend money on them by doing special things like giving away coffee mugs and doughnuts during finals week.”

While some may find it unfair that faculty has to pay for every meal now, it seems as though this is not much different from other schools similar to Ashland.

Baldwin Wallace College, a private liberal arts school in Berea does not treat their staff and faculty either. The only difference: price.

BW serves all of its food à la carte to students, staff and faculty at the same cost. A Jacket Express card, similar to AU Eagle Dollars, is set up for students to pay for their meals. Their card has a set amount of money on it and has a declining balance for every time the student purchases his or her food. For faculty and staff, they can also use their own Jacket Express card this way, and can either set up an inclining balance system or a system that takes money from their paychecks.

For BW, the average price of a full meal is much less than one at AU.

“Lunch is usually around four dollars, for dinner slightly more,” Director of BW Auxiliary Services Dave Jensen said.

At AU, faculty can also use their own Eagle Dollars. Some departments provide faculty with preloaded cards, which they can use for meals at the department’s expense, mostly with the assumption that the faculty will eat with students.

BW also offers a buffet-style meal, similar to Convo. This dining hall is open to staff, faculty and students, as well as the public. It is often utilized by the elderly in the neighborhood who find it convenient to get a meal cooked for them at a good price.

For this dining hall, a meal costs $6.75 and to add a beverage and dessert is $1.00 each. At a total of $8.75, it is slightly more expensive than AU’s Convo by ten cents.

Staff at Ashland has to pay the same amount that students with a meal plan have to pay for a guest. The cost breaks down to $6.95 for breakfast, $8.65 for lunch and $10.55 for dinner in Convo.

“The prices are comparable with some of the restaurants in town,” Geib said. “The price for breakfast is similar to one at Bob Evan’s and maybe even cheaper after you add the tip.”

While BW gives cheaper options for their faculty by providing meals à la carte, The College of Wooster provides their faculty with their own dining hall and meal options.

“We have a faculty and staff lunch room where they can purchase a $4.00 salad bar, dessert and beverage meal,” Director of Campus Dining Services, Chuck Wagers said about Wooster. “They can also pay $6.00 for a full meal with hot and cold entrees and side dishes.”

The location the faculty can eat in at Wooster is private and only for them, and has white tablecloths with table-side beverage service.

Wooster has a total of six locations for students to eat. Faculty can take advantage of the all-you-can-eat dining hall for $7.50 at lunch.

While only two other schools were compared to Ashland, the overall result is that other schools do not treat their faculty much differently than AU does.

Geib explains that Convo is so expensive to some because of the quality of food that is provided. He considers it the best in town and explains that Convo supports local farmers and growers, which some dining services do not take the extra time and money to worry about.

Whether it’s the quality of food and service, price or faculty dining privileges, Ashland University is not much different from other Ohio schools and measures up if not surpasses the dining services of other colleges.