Union students can expect better quality and variety from the new food provider Creative Dining, said Jim Erickson, director for dining services.
Students returning to campus will find several new food options, including an extended salad bar featuring fruit and vegetable options.
“We provide a healthy variety for the students and healthy options which they may or may not have been able to secure previous to our coming here,” said Kim Zylstra, operations director.
The addition of a salad bar in the center of the dining hall is just one of many renovations, and it will be replaced by a new salad bar twice as large around the end of August, according to Erickson.
Creative Dining is planning to partner with a local orchard to supply produce and to support local markets, Zylstra said.
Creative Dining wants to focus on the student’s experience, catering to what students liked in the past. These options will cater more to students who have allergies than the previous provider Aramark, said Erickson.
“We want to have an atmosphere where people are comfortable and they can come in and have food that they like,” he said.
Creative Dining wants to make Brewer Dining Hall like the dinner table for campus — a place for community and relationship, Erickson said.
The new provider hired a majority of the previous staff members. The staff already had good connections with the students and were good workers, Erickson said. Staff member Jackie Weeden said the working environment has greatly improved.
“The people are awesome, everybody helps, nobody sits down in the office and does nothing,” she said, adding that the staff now prays before every meal and eats together.
Creative Dining conducts business according to Christian values and principles, according to the company’s website. Creative Dining shares these values with Union University, said Gary Carter, senior vice president for business and financial services.
The values exhibited by the staff were a key factor in choosing Creative Dining according to Holly Johnson, president of Union’s Student Government Association.
Johnson was part of a committee that consisted of students, residence life staff, university administration and a Union parent to select the new dining service. They started with several dining services they had heard about or experienced before and eventually narrowed it down.
“Other vendors seemed monotonous,” Johnson said. “The staff at Creative Dining had a smile on their faces and asked us if everything was all right. There was an exceptional level of leadership, and that affected the rest of the staff.”
Johnson had many opportunities to eat with Creative Dining as she was on campus all summer.
“I was impressed with the quality of what they called ‘camp food,’” she said. “There’s a variety of options, and the food is always hot and ready.”
Weeden said she is excited to serve the new food to students.
“Come in, enjoy yourself, try a little bit of everything, because it’s all good,” she said.
