by Xochitl Campos
Daily Lobo
If the food on campus leaves a bad taste in your mouth, fill out a survey in front of the SUB.
The survey is to determine students' wants and needs for on-campus dining, said Jennie McDowell, a worker with Aramark.
Aramark is responsible for all food service at UNM.
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Representatives from the company will be in front of the SUB from 9 a.m. to noon for the rest of the week, she said.
McDowell said students can fill out an electronic survey to change the eateries at the University.
"We are the food service on campus, and we do surveys to get a feel for what people want and what they're looking for," she said. "We try to talk to them independently as much as we can."
The survey asks about a dozen questions, which range from how often someone eats breakfast to the amount of carbohydrates
they eat.
"There are things that we can change immediately, so we'll do that," McDowell said.
It's impossible to please all 32,000 people on campus, said Carol Scott, operations director for the campus dining service.
"When you are in this industry, you want to meet all the needs that you possibly can," she said. "But you are not always going to meet everyone's needs."
McDowell said the company hosted 13 focus groups to see what students want to eat on campus, but the groups aren't always accurate because they don't represent the entire population.
Participants volunteer to be in the groups, she said.
"Usually, people who participate in focus groups have something specific that they want to talk about," she said. "Focus groups are not always a random sampling of people."
The data from the survey will help the company determine which eateries should be on campus,
she said.
The survey aims to find out what students want to eat and where would be the most convenient place to do it, McDowell said.
"We use this as our primary way of deciding and proposing what needs to happen," she said.
McDowell said the best way to see what students want is to set up booths on campus. But students aren't always willing to stop at the booths, so it's hard to get them to take the surveys, she said.
Student Ryan Gonzales said he wants more wholesome options on campus.
"All we have are chicken and burgers," he said. "There really aren't any healthy options."
Student Joseph Aranda said he eats off campus because he is bored with the choices at the SUB.
"I think there are better restaurants around than there are on campus," he said. "Something like Quiznos would be good because you can get burgers anywhere."
