You always have input on your dining experience! We'll post comments and responses here as we receive them.
Comment from Quy on September 18, 2012.
New food please! More variety! Burge is way better! I should know because i lived there last semester!
Response from Fred Kurt, Hillcrest Market Place Manager.
Hi Quy,
There are definitely some differences in the two Market Places, the main difference is that The Burge Market Place has more service stations and therefore you will find that they do have more options on a regular basis especially during lunch in which they have all the stations open to alleviate the lines the best possible. However we have the same menu, use the same recipes and order the same products from the same supplier. We do value and appreciate your input and would encourage you to get involved in our Dining Advisory Committee which is a liaison between student customers and University Dining management to assist in reviewing general operations including quality of food and service, menus, hours of operation, and operating policies. If you are interested we meet next Tuesday September 25th @ 7PM in the Hillcrest Private Dining Room. We meet on a monthly basis so it is not a big time commitment.
Thanks for your input & have a great day!
Fred
Comment from Greer on September 17, 2012
I am a vegetarian and when I was considering wether or not to purchase a meal plan based on this, I was told there were several vegetarian plans in both dining halls. This does not seem to be the case in Hillcrest. There is a small table in the middle that often has very healthy vegan options that is only occasionally open for service.
In Burge they do often have vegetarian food and once they had an entire vegetarian buffet. An employee asked why they do not have it more often and another employee insisted to her that it is there on a regular basis. I have not seen it since and that was a few weeks ago. Does it come regularly? If not, why not?
The soups, like a lot of the food you have looks very good but everytime I ask employees if there is meat in the soups they do not know. This happens with a variety of other items, too (mashed potatoes, etc.) Vegan, gluten free, nuts, and "healthy options" are labeled and I was wondering why vegetarian options were left out, since in Burge you clearly make an effort to have them every day and at every meal. According to some surveys, 8% of college students identify as vegetarian while less than 1% identify as vegan.
I would greatly appriciate it if there were more vegetarian options in Hillcrest and if the vegetarian meals were labeled.
Thanks for your help!
Response from Fred Kurt, Hillcrest Market Place Manager.
I hope your semester is going well. I think that you will find that we do have many vegetarian options in both Market Places even though we don't label them specifically. We feel that the vegetarian options are typically easier to identify unlike the vegan, gluten free, nut allergy or healthy UChoose item. There are definitely some differences in the two Market Places. The Burge Market Place has more service stations and therefore you will find that they do have more options on a regular basis. The majority of these options are going to be during lunch at Burge because they have extra stations open to alleviate the lines during the busy lunch period. You are correct that Burge serves a wide variety of vegetarian items every Tuesday at the Fresh station. If you are curious about which soups are vegetarian, I would recommend that you contact me.
Thanks for your inquiry & have a great day!
Fred
Comment from Heidi on September 13, 2012
I love the food at Hillcrest and all of the selections and know that it is hard to tend to every students wants and needs, but I think it would be lovely if nonfat yogurt could be added to the buffet. Eating fatty foods (even lowfat yogurt) upsets my stomach, but it is important that I eat a good amount of protein first thing in the morning. There are other ways that I can get protein, but yogurt is one of my favorite food. Really, the taste difference between lowfat and nonfat can hardly be sensed, so I'm sure students will enjoy it just as much and will take in a few less grams of saturated fat as well.
Response from Fred Kurt, Hillcrest Market Place Manager
Hello Heidi,
We appreciate you positive feedback and are glad you're enjoying the food at Hillcrest. I am sorry that it took me a bit to get back to you as I was checking with our supplier if they carried a non-fat yogurt in a large container that would meet our needs. We put our dairy products out for bid on a regular basis to get the best prices possible and I was told by our supplier they don't have non-fat yogurt in the 5lb tubs. I hope your semester is going well as I am sure you are keeping busy with classes by now. If you would like to get involved on campus, I am the leader of a Dining Advisory Committee which meets once a month in regards to any issues related to campus dining. We would appreciate your participation if you have time.
Have a great day,
Fred
Comment from an RA on September 14, 2012
To whom this may concern,
As a second year Resident Assistant, I have had countless number of C-store meals to go and Burge grab and go meals, but it came to my attention that the quality of the "C-Store" sandwiches are sub-par to mediocre at best. Various fatty or hard pieces of "chicken" in the chicken salad sandwich, or better yet, the new turkey sandwiches that feature a hard shell around the meat.
The closing of the burge grab and go truly limited the number of options available. I have one simple request that the IMU or whoever makes these god awful sandwiches, considers making a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
PB&J is a timeless sandwich that requires minimal to no work, when comparing it to others.
I am sure that this message will resonate with anyone who has actually tried some of these sandwiches.
Thank you and I appreciate your time.
Response from Bob James, Assistant Director for Retail Operations
I am sorry about your experiences with the C-store sandwiches. I am passing this information along to our Chefs so that they can look into the current product we are using for these sandwiches. As far as PB&J sandwiches go, we will also give that some consideration. You are correct, they are timeless.
Bob James
Assistant Director Retail Operations
Comment from Emily on March 21st, 2012
Hi,
I was wondering where the fresh vegetables and eggs come from. Are they local or do you receive them pre-cut from the distributor? Are the eggs local or are they also from the distributor?
Thanks!
Response from Hillcrest Market Place administrator Fred Kurt
Hello Emily,
We do try to buy as much as we can from our local providers unfortunately here in Iowa the growing season doesn’t work real well with our school calendar. In Residential Dining we order a lot of our produce processed but in University Catering they do purchase a reasonable amount or product locally during the summer months.
In regards to eggs, we go through about 700 pounds a day and they are sourced locally from Farmer's Hen House in Kalona, Iowa just a short 30 minute drive south of here.
Hopefully that answers your questions. If you have any additional questions please let me know. I hope you had a great spring break and enjoy the rest of your semester.
Sincerely,
Fred
Comment from Kayley on February 14th, 2012
Last semester there was always snickers topping by the soft serve and I was wondering if it will be coming back. I've talked to a lot of people who used to come to Hillcrest from East side just for soft serve and snickers topping. We miss it very much. If possible, we'd love to see it at Hillcrest again!
P.S. Loved the special treats for Valentine's Day!
Response from Hillcrest Market Place administrator Fred Kurt
Hi Kayley,
Glad to hear you enjoyed the extra treats we had offered on Valentine's Day. We have switched out the Snickers product with a Nestle's Crunch as a topping for the soft serve ice cream. I will check to see if there is room for both products in that service area and if so we can bring it back since it sounds like it was popular. Otherwise maybe we can alternate between the two. Thanks so much for your feedback and good luck with this semester with your classes!
Fred
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