It’s only natural for students with dietary restrictions to have an opinion on the food the Thrive station provides for them. Jayden De Alba, a sophomore with a peanut and gluten allergy, says the rice-based shredded imitation cheese is disappointing, but loves the new chicken tenders.
Switching from an oat- to rice-based cheese is not ideal for all students who use the Thrive station, especially since oat is not a top nine allergen the station is meant to address. However, it’s a perfect example of what Karl Anderson, the production chef at the Northsider, describes as the complexity of running the Thrive station.
“If it boils down to the preferences of certain students, we have to keep in mind that we’re trying to feed large amounts of students at once and we’re not going to be able to hit the marks for every student, every time,” Anderson said.
The Thrive station, based in the Northsider, was created to support students with dietary restrictions such as food allergies and intolerances. According to its description, the food prepared there is mostly free of the top nine food allergens:, which are wheat, peanuts, eggs, milk, soybean, tree nuts, fish, sesame and shellfish. To prevent cross-contamination, the station is enclosed to people without keycard access and kitchen-ware is kept separate from the rest of the dining hall.
According to Anderson, a successful Thrive station provides students with “safe, craveable, approachable food that they don’t have to worry about grabbing.”
When it comes down to personal preferences or staying within the top nine allergens, his concern is providing the most options for the most amount of students.
While the Thrive station is effective at providing nutrient-rich, allergy-friendly food, students say it is less sufficient in providing full meals.
“It definitely supplements what the dining hall offers,” says junior Ann Boland, a student with a gluten intolerance who used Thrive for her first two years.
Regarding big scale improvements, Thryn Arnav, a disability specialist who supports students with dietary accommodations, voiced her concern for students that when the Northsider is closed, so is the Thrive station.
Anderson explains that to keep the Northsider open seven days a week, a minimum of four employees would have to be on shift all day to provide for “an important part, but a smaller percentage of the student body.”
On the other hand, expanding to The View in Anderson Student Center or Cornerstone Kitchen in Minneapolis would be difficult since they weren’t designed with Thrive in mind.
“It’s not like we could just blow out a wall,” Anderson said.
Safety is another important aspect of incorporating a Thrive station at the View given it is a “very busy, tightly packed place. It would be pretty hard to shoehorn a safe environment to provide that food,” Anderson said.
Lastly, hiring another employee to be responsible for prepping the food is expensive. Already, Thrive comparatively costs more than the rest of the Northsider because of the nature of allergen alternative foods.
Students and faculty alike both wish for more of a variety of food, but progress is slow. In their communication with disability resources, De Alba and Boland find St. Thomas and dining services are, for the most part, very accommodating. Whether that’s setting them up with a dietician or understanding the need to drop their unlimited meal plan.
However, communication becomes less effective when new items get introduced to the Thrive station.
For example, Thrive offered burgers for a short time. Arnav recalled a student who wasn’t aptly informed that burgers were available.
“(She) wanted to use that resource, but then hadn’t gone to the cafeteria and seen that, so she didn’t use it,” recalls Arnav.
Burgers were then discontinued.
A constant problem with retaining new options is that “usage drives the Thrive station,” Anderson said.
Anderson explained, he hosts three orientations about the Thrive station each year during welcome week. Through those orientations, De Alba and Boland learned who to talk to if they have a problem.
“I know that the person who gives the orientation works (at the Northsider) pretty often, otherwise there’s always some staff around that I can always ask if I have any questions,” De Alba said.
Since the Thrive station opened in 2020, there have been many versions.
Anderson says that what works the best is a streamlined set-up, with lunches and dinners modeled after the bowl station at Northsider, and cycling the menu every week. Anderson said this set-up of the station allows for a better quality of food.
The food is prepared in smaller batches and by one person.
Compared to the rest of the dining hall, Anderson said “Individual items have more attention.” This employee responsible for food preparation ensures that no cross-contamination occurs.
Part of what makes general maintenance effective in the latest version is the recording of the number of students who use the station, which is then used to generate weekly reports. Around 120 students use the Thrive station in total, 25-30% of whom use it regularly, Anderson said.
From those weekly reports, Anderson forecasts the amount of food needed for the following days which improves their ability to cycle through and refresh food. This assures that the longest they hold food out is a day and a half, a problem that has been noted by Boland in the past.
“I would say that often it was undersupplied. Like their things were just gone or things were molded or expired. And like, if I was fully celiac, it would be really difficult to make an entire full meal out of the Thrive station,” Boland said.
“I was grateful for the effort. (St. Thomas) was better than other schools that I toured, because at least they tried,” Boland said. “But I definitely see lots of room for improvement and I think what it would take is a person who is passionate to head that up.”
As he continues to improve the Thrive station, Anderson asks a specific question:
“Are we getting the bang for our buck on the back end?” he asked.
Leila Montoya can be reached at mont1761@stthomas.edu.
