By Jazmine Ramirez
Something remarkable has happened to Chestnut Hill College.
Last year, McCaffery Lounge was renovated, and a Starbucks was added to the CHC campus. This was a great thing that Chestnut Hill College was lucky enough to have something like this added. There was positive feedback on having a Starbucks on campus. It was very convenient and a big hit for the students.
This year, the college was once again lucky enough to have another set of renovations happen. For starters, the Griffin Den was redone. To top this off, Fournier Dining Hall was also renovated.
Desiree Johnson, director of dining services, noted some of the renovations: “There are new tiles. There are new grill equipment. The deli is the same, but there are new pizza ovens, and freezer equipment. This is more convenient for workers to satisfy the customers to be quicker.”
Students have noticed the changes in the dining space.
“I think the caf looks a lot better than it did last year with just the few changes they made,” said Michelle Baker, a sophomore exercise science major. “It definitely looks better kept than it was last year.”
Skyler Cunningham, a senior psychology major, agreed.
“The renovations are nice, making the experience feel nicer in a way,” Cunningham said.
However, Baker and Cunningham also agreed on an area that they said still needs improvement: the food.
“But it doesn’t make up for the lack of hospitality and mediocre food,” Cunningham said. “Last year, it was okay. It’s edible but not desirable at all. Things haven’t changed much. If anything, I think the cooks are ruder than before.”
Said Baker: “I think the caf has slowly improved, but it’s too early to tell, besides the few renovations. I think that if they had better food options throughout the year, then it would have improved more.
“Personally, I do not really care about cafe food. Last year, all I really got was grilled chicken, sometimes pizza, and fries. I didn’t think there was much variety in the food or food that looked that appetizing, so I slowly stopped going to the cafe as the year progressed.”
Johnson discussed the process it took to do these renovations and how excited the staff was that we could receive them. She knew that they needed new freezer equipment.
“The workers tend to go to the back to grab something; they have to leave the front, so customers have to wait for them to return,” Johnson said. “The new freezer equipment makes it so they do not have to run to the back and leave customers unattended.”
Johnson also said that she is always open to feedback from both staff and students as to what they think about these new renovations or what they can do as a whole to improve the cafeteria.
“You know, at a certain time, things look old, worn, and tired,” Johnson said. “Chartwells has an architect who will come in and look at what they can do according to the budget the school has and what they think would work best for the specific setup we have. They have the best understanding of the budget and what would look the best to make a new Chestnut Hill cafeteria. We are a smaller school, so what works for other schools may not work for us.”
When it comes to the timely manner of the renovations,
Johnson said the dining hall renovations were supposed to happen last year along with McCaffrey. She said that the reason it didn’t happen last year, was because there was so much going on at the school, such as summer camps. They needed to make sure there was enough time, so once graduation ended, everything started.
“This was the best decision for the school as a whole because there was no rush,” Johnson expressed.
