“OMG Wedding soup iz da best thing eva!” or “fat bar needs more chocolate cookies” are just some examples of the types of messages sent to food services as a result of the new Text and Tell system.

The system was discovered when director of Auxiliary Services Matthew Portner attended a conference and a speaker discussed using technology to improve dining services and heard about using text messaging to receive instant feedback from students.

Text and Tell is a web-based application that allows students to send text messages to the dining services about the service and food at Convo. The system was implemented at the start of this semester and has been performing as expected. The system tracks responses and sends them to General Manager of Dining Operations Frederick Geib.

Geib explained that costs are minimal for the service and the application essentially replaces the older comment card system.

“It’s more practical,” Geib said. “Nearly every student has a cell phone. Students will have a much easier time responding, and it’s easier to manage the comments.” Geib explained that the text messages with a negative message about Convo gets sent straight to his personal phone.

“If there’s an issue that I can fix then I will seek the person out and see what the problem is,” Geib said. Geib uses the cell phone numbers attached to the response to attempt to contact the student with hopes of correcting an error or seeing the problem for himself.

Geib said that the Text and Tell system has been useful to food services in many different ways.

“If food gets a bad response we’ll examine the food,” Geib said. Geib explained that some foods receive bad student reactions and the dining services examines the amount of servings that are being given out for that particular food to see if the food should stay part of the menu.

Geib said that the Text and Tell system points out flaws in restocking areas of Convo, rude employees or the condition of food.

“It really keeps us in check,” Geib said. “We have to make sure everything is up to par. We are really concerned especially when we receive a bad response. It’s a very beneficial system as long as students utilize the system.

“If students aren’t satisfied, let [Dining Operations] know,” Geib said. “Be specific and point out particular meals.”

Students can send their responses to 55744 and prefixing their message with “txtau” so that the message is sent to Ashland University.