USG welcomed Steve Griffin, the executive director of dining services, to discuss catering, to-go containers and food options at the Undergraduate Student Government meeting on Thursday, November 21.
There have been several concerns about campus catering, regarding its cost and sustainability, USG representatives said.
All of the utensils and containers that catering and dining services use are compostable, but it’s up to students to put them in the correct disposal containers, Griffin said.
“We have a lot of opportunities for people to be sustainable, but I will say, if you look in the trashes in T’s and Scooter’s, a lot of the compostables end up in the trash,” Griffin said.
To make a change, students need to be conscious of where they put their waste, Griffin said.
“We need help from you guys and the sustainability clubs to get the word out,” Griffin said.
Food waste has not gone up or down, but the university can work to be better, Griffin said.
Students also asked Griffin about the potential for to-go containers in the dining halls. Griffin said he does not see the containers making their way into St. Thomas dining halls anytime soon.
“Some universities do offer these, but if you look at what they charge for their meals, Macalester’s meals are 40% more expensive than ours,” Griffin said. “The University of Minnesota is about 20% more than ours.”
Dining services aim to keep costs low for students, Griffin said.
“It just comes down to the cost of it,” Griffin said.
Far more food leaves the dining halls when to-go containers come into the picture.
“When we did to-go containers in the COVID-era, it was amazing the amount of food that left the dining halls,” Griffin said.
Another concern Griffin addressed was whether or not halal and other cultural food options can be expanded to both T’s and Scooter’s.
“We just don’t have the space to have it at T’s and Scooter’s,” Griffin said.
Dining services hopes to expand these options, but at this time, kitchen space limits the food options.
While these food options are not able to be expanded to T’s and Scooter’s at this time, one thing that is expanding soon is Scooters’ to-go app.
“Our goal is next August 1st is that the to-go app will expand to T’s,” Griffin said. “Eventually, we’ll hopefully have that for the coffee places too.”
Cecilia Wallace can be reached at wall1238@stthomas.edu.