Question & Answer: Dining Services

This week the Patriot Talon focused on Food Services Director Shannon Mariani

Shannon Mariani is the director of Food Service. He has been working here for eight years. Last week he participated in a question and answer session with the Patriot Talon.

1. How have the food options on campus expanded since you took leadership over the program?

Shannon Mariani

A: Since 2001 when I started working with Food Services, I was instrumental in opening Subway, Blends and Brews supported by Starbucks, Varsity Grill and the Liberty Station coffee shop. The New York themed Liberty Station coffee shop located in the Business Building was actually converted from a custodial closet. Also, when we were self-operated, I opened C3, the on-campus convenient store. After the dorms were built, UT’s food service department merged with ARAMARK, which is when I became an ARAMARK employee. After the merge, the Varsity grill was turned into Grill Works, then became Sports Café, which now is where Chick-fil-A is. During this time, the Met’s options were considerably expanded. Also, the Harvey’s Burrito Bar that was not very successful was changed to a nice soup and salad bar. Currently there are seven services provided through food services, which include the Met, Chick-fil-A, Subway, two coffee shops, Harvey’s and the C3 Store. Something similar to Grill Works will be available after the construction of the UC building is complete.

2. Did the merge mean that you didn’t have as much freedom in making decisions about food services?

A: The only thing that ARAMARK actively changed was the Varsity Grill. At that time we were trying almost every new suggestion that we heard and were taking on too many different options. ARAMARK reigned us in a little in that way, which was a good thing when it became Grill Works. Other than that, ARAMARK gives me the freedom to do most things. Also, I have more flexibility because of the C3 store. I can order any new products that could be profitable for the store. I like this because I can basically go anywhere and find a product that I really like. Then all I do is find out where to order it from and we can try it out to see if students like it too.

3. What is the most challenging part of your day?

A: I don’t have any major challenges in my day, usually just small issues. For example, right now we are waiting on a part to fix the dishwasher in the Met and sometimes we have problems with the delivery delays. It can be frustrating when a truck is late, especially when that day’s menu items are on it. We have a really great team that does an incredible job, enjoys being a part of the UT community and is dedicated to making UT better. All our problems are small because we have all the right people running the ship.

4.What has been your greatest challenge overall?

A: The biggest challenge is that we have not been able to operate at a fully functional levels, because there have been many moves and new projects every semester. The first year I started working at the college — Subway was opened, and during the second and third years — I was working on opening Blends & Brews. Next semester will be the first time the food services will not be living out of boxes like we are at Blends & Brews and Subway, which are still in temporary buildings until the UC construction is finished. We have grown as the campus community has grown and I feel like we have successfully been able to identify the campus needs. Overall, the greatest challenge has been convincing Chick-fil-A to be available on campus, but we were successful and it’s been a hit.

5. What, if any, discussions from the town meeting last March were directed at the food services? Have these concerns been resolved?

A: At the meeting, the first concern was about getting Chick-fil-A on campus. With help from ARAMARK, we were able to do it. Before the merge, I called back many times trying to get it on campus, but every time I called they said to call back when our enrollment was higher or when we had met some other criteria. Since ARAMARK represents 430 campuses, some as big as Arizona State, they were more successful in bringing Chick-fil-A to UT Tyler. Since they are so large, they could negotiate with them even if UT Tyler won’t be the most profitable location, because ARAMARK represents some much larger campuses than UT as well.
The second concern was about keeping the Met dining hall open later hours. After hearing this, I wanted to make sure that we weren’t eliminating student’s opportunities to eat because of the hours we were open. We tried keeping the Met open one hour later than usual for two weeks. We documented the attendance at times during the day, and at the end of the two weeks we were still feeding 500 people a day. Keeping the Met open later only changed the actual time that people ate, but it did not increase the amount of people that ate at the Met. Now we are back to regular hours.

6. Most students seem to eat Chick-fil-A frequently. How has this trend impacted food services on a whole?

A: First of all, the revenue has increased a lot since we opened Chick-fil-A. Every new store always has its honeymoon period, but we were surprised after the first weeks passed when people were still eating at the Met and Subway as well as the new Chick-fil-A. Students that used to go off campus for lunch started to stay on campus for Chick-fil-A. The new addition helps create a thriving campus community because of the added options. Now students have a hang-out spot and all the food areas are full at mealtimes.

7. What efforts, if any, have you made to accommodate for vegetarian or kosher alternative eating styles?

A: Anytime we have a request, I always try to accommodate and see if other people are interested. If enough people show interest in the suggested change, I usually add it to our options permanently if other students like it too. We haven’t ever had a request for kosher, but we do have many options for vegetarians. I think it’s a cop-out for schools to say that they have vegetarian foods when all they offer is a salad. Everyday at the Met, we always have a least one vegetarian meal available. For example, some we offer are: vegetarian lasagna, BOCA burgers, tofu, stir fry and various pastas. We have daily menu’s online so you can see what options are available for that day at http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSSW/UnivTexasTyler (UTTyler.edu > Current Students > Dining ).
I am actually District Sustainability Champion for my ARAMARK District which includes Trinity Valley Community College, Kilgore Community College and Louisiana Tech among others.  I’m the “hippie” of the group because I was the first to try organic food on campus and I am always looking for the popular eco-product that everyone wants. I work with a company called UNFI which is associated with Rainbow Grocers to hear about the newest eco-products. For example, you can find the Naked Juice drinks and Acai Juice at the C3 store as well as a wide variety of Cliff Bars and Gluten-free products. The coffee shop used to have fair-trade coffee, but we buy our products from Starbucks, who discontinued it. As soon as it’s available, we’ll carry it.

8. How can students contact you to request products and different foods on campus?

A: My e-mail address is on the website and anyone is welcome to e-mail me with suggestions. My office is always open to anyone that has a concern or suggestion as well. We just recently conducted a Dining Style Survey and had 254 respondents that gave us a lot of candid feedback. The Resident Assistance at Ornelas Hall know me and always come to talk to me if they have problems or really liked something we offered at a meal. I think that non-formal feedback is better, so anyone is welcome to stop by. The best compliment I’ve received was from a past student that said, “I can’t believe I asked for this yesterday and you already have it today!”

9. Do you have any future plans for food services? If so, what do they entail?

A: After the construction is finished at the UC, we will no longer have temporary buildings for the food services and we look forward to being able to have all of our services fully functioning. We will continue to invest in newer, better equipment and will update our procedures as the campus grows. We do not have plans for any new food services in the near future.

10. How has the expansion made an impact on the level of employment available on campus?

A: Since we’ve increased the amount of venues on campus, I have more opportunities to offer employment for students. Currently around 20-25 students and alumni are employed for food services out of a total of 70 staff members. For example, Matt Szerwinsky has been with me for seven out of nine years that I’ve worked here. He is a great manager for C3, the convenient store. Matt is an alumni of UTT and I’m proud to have him on the team. Also, our manager for both coffee shops is an alumni who wanted to start her own coffee shop and now manages both of ours. Even the night supervisors for Liberty Station are students. Not only do we have student workers, but many of them are in impact positions, which show the caliber of students at UT Tyler.   
When we were self operated, about 95-99 percent of our positions were student filled. However with the addition of residential dining, we acquired more professional staff to handle things like the cooking. We do maintain student involvement though, because that is important to us and the community. We haven’t had to cut staff numbers and when we moved the Subway, we kept all the staff.