Students at Baker University have been wondering if they are receiving smaller food portions this year compared to previous years. Baker partners with American Dining Creation to provide meals to Baker’s campus.
A Baker student, who requested to remain anonymous, shared the frustration about portion sizes.
“Yes, I think they are smaller,” they said. “I would say it’s pretty much every meal, but definitely at lunch, it is smaller than any other time.”
Andy Theroff, General Manager at Baker University for American Dining Creation, addressed the concerns about portion sizes.
“No, we are serving the same portion sizes. Our concept is all you can eat, it’s called AYCE. AYCE means we will give you this portion of food, and if you want more, you can come back and get more. You can come back as many times as you want.”
The student expressed another frustration about having to get back in line for additional servings.
“I would say just having to consistently go back and get in line again is upsetting because there are so many people who are also getting seconds and thirds, and then it’s creating this 20-minute line. If I am trying to eat between classes and I am having to wait in this line, I can’t get enough food.”
Eddie Stanford, a dining server for American Dining Creations at Baker, is often the face that you see as you walk into the café. He is able to explain a reason that students may feel the portion sizes are smaller this year:
“One thing that I have noticed is that at least this last semester, the kitchen staff weren’t communicating as well as we could with each other on how much we’re scooping out to students,” Stanford explained. “Over the summer, we did have a conversation of how to best tackle that plan directly. So this semester, we’re working on communicating with each other better, and as far as how many scoops of whatever item we’re directly handing out.”
This means the staff is being more consistent with portions. American Dining Creations provides Baker with weekly recipes that include the number of portions each meal should make.
Theroff gives an example of how portion sizes are important to ensuring there is enough food for an entire meal period.
“So if we have our chicken, if we have 30 portions in a pan and we are making 300 portions, we have 10 pans. We know when we’ve used five pans, we’re halfway done. Are we halfway through the meal period, though? Or are we halfway through, however many people we’re probably going to feed for that meal period? If not, we need to get more chicken going, having the portions, let us know how much more we need to make if we need to make any.”
According to Theroff, everything in the café, including portion sizes and control, is carefully managed to make sure that students and faculty can have a meal. Theroff and the rest of the dining staff work to make sure that they are paying attention to Baker students’ preferences. If you have questions or need clarification, just ask Theroff or a staff member and they can explain.
