This has been an exciting year for Dining Services, starting
with the newly renovated Marillac food court. Students, faculty and
staff were delighted to see the new sleek design along with the
addition of Subway, Outtakes, and the exciting
cook-to-order grill at “Plate by Plate”. This
renovation also created a new expanded Burger King
and pizza /pasta venues. Shortly after the Fall semester started, a
new Dunkin Donuts store opened within the Marillac
terrace, along with the new Marillac grill opening on the patio.
Other changes at the start of the school year included relocating
the Taco Bell and adding a
Freshens smoothie concept to the D’Angelo Center
food court. Our Nathans venue was relocated to the
St. Vincent’s Diner which was now opened 7 days
per week. More subtle changes were made at the Law School,
Manhattan and Staten Island dining locations.
Changes were also forthcoming with meal plans at the start of the
school year. We listened to the St. John’s Students and brought
back the 14 Meal Plan. Additional value and flexibility was added
to the resident meal plans by allowing a second meal exchange
daily. Lunch exchanges were now available in D’Angelo Center, and
weekend breakfasts exchanges at Dunkin Donuts. We
also added commuter block plans of 25, 50 and 75 along with
enhancing the Dining Dollars plan that now includes 5 or 10 meal
exchanges with the new 250 or 500 plans.
When students returned after the Winter break they were met with
the first ever Energy Kitchen on a college campus
at the D’Angelo Center food court. Other changes during Winter
break included the addition of “Fernando’s Fish
Market” and “NY Steakhouse” on
alternating days and a “Picantes Mexican Cuisine”
at the Marillac food court. Later into the Spring semester the
Library Café added bubble tea to their menu, and then on Monday’s
in April we brought in the Wafels and Dinges food
truck to the great lawn, serving their award winning waffles and
ice cream.
Throughout the course of this school year, Dining Services has put
a strong emphasis on customer service and quality controls. All of
our Dining locations within St. John’s University have an
“A” rating from the Board of Health, and both the
Dining Services survey and ACHIO-I survey had notable improvements
from the previous year. We look forward to continue building a best
in class Dining Services program for the St. John’s community.