Students can text 972-808-5028 to address concerns or give suggestions to Dining Services management. Photo by Medha Somisetty | Mercury Staff.
In response to a
rising number of student suggestions and complaints regarding dining on campus,
UTD Dining Services created a messaging portal to allow students to anonymously
provide feedback on all matters related to dining on campus.
The portal will
allow students to suggest improvements or complain about issues they’ve faced
at Dining Services outlets on campus. The app will put them in contact with one
of Dining Services’ managers.
Steven Goodwin,
the resident district manager for Chartwells, UTD’s food service provider, said
the initiative provides Chartwells and Dining Services a source of inspiration
and motivation for improvements that can be made on campus.
“We really want
to have a pulse for what students really want and need in the moment,” Goodwin
said. “Our managers can have access to that information and be able to get
someone out there to address the need within a couple of minutes.”
The messaging
program, which operates on a platform called Chatback, allows students to
engage by texting their question, comment or concern to 972-808-5028. The
service will then return an automated message to the student that will let them
know that a Dining Services manager will respond to their concern within 24
hours.
Director of Food
and Retail Carrie Chutes said the program was created in response to
suggestions and complaints about Dining Services and Chartwells that were made
on other platforms such as Reddit.
“We just don’t
want people to feel that they never have the opportunity to get in touch,”
Chutes said. “This program is a way to make it a fail-safe proof that they have
someone to get in touch with immediately.”
Rani Chavez, the
marketing director for Chartwells, said the app will allow students to have a
more customized and safe experience with regard to dining on campus.
“We encourage
students to come see a chef or manager if they have any specified allergens
they want us to know,” Chavez said. “Our team is more than happy to work with
students on their specific meal plan and be able to cater to them in a suitable
way.”
Students can
attend Food Service Advisory Committee meetings to directly engage with Dining
Services personnel. The next meeting will be held Jan. 29 at 12 p.m. in SSA
14.244.
Electrical engineering sophomore Ali
Muhsin said the creation of a messaging platform was a necessary improvement.
“Honestly, with
such a large audience to cater to, maintaining a certain level of standard at
dining halls and retail locations is definitely difficult to manage for both
the university and students,” Muhsin said. “Having a program like this where
students are free to voice themselves is essential to maintaining and improving
the standard UTD holds itself to.”