Waynesburg University’s dining hall services are often criticized, but what most people are not aware of is how much planning and preparation go into making it functional.

According to Leslie Davis, director of dining services, the operations of the dining hall starts small and builds up.

“It starts from the bottom, with the scheduling of the cooks, we have union employees and student employees and the students are not a work program, they actually work for Aladdin dining,” said Davis. “It’s the production of the food, writing the menus, and ordering all of the products.”

For senior psychology major and student worker Marla Holland, the dining hall has several parts that make it operational.

“There is a lot actually,” said Holland. “It starts with the chefs getting there early in the morning and taking care of everything that needs done for breakfast, getting a good start on lunch, not having any call offs, as well as the people who work in the back to keep all the dishes clean.”

When it comes to planning the menus, Davis has a system that has the meals on schedule far in advance.

“We will write a semester ahead. Over the summer I will write the fall semester, and then during the fall semester I will write the spring semester. So, we try to be at least one semester ahead,” said Davis.

While the overall planning does take an exceptional amount of time, the preparation is still not an easy task according to Davis.

“It’s not easy, we have a small team back there; it’s one cook back there making your breakfast, making the soups, putting your lunch together and that’s just the main meal,” said Davis. “There is another cook that is going to do the grill line, so they each have a job to do and that’s a lot of work when you’re feeding that many mouths at a time.”

When it comes to the student workers, they do just as much as the union employees and they can be found at the front of the line serving food for students and faculty.

“Most of the student workers work the lines. So, that means they are serving and possibly prepping food,” said Holland. “In the deli of course, they are going to make sandwiches, but typically it’s between serving and making sure everything is stocked throughout the day.”

The dining hall also plans special events to break up the monotony of the scheduled meals.

These events include things like steak and shrimp night, Mardi Gras lunch party, Valentine’s Day special desert bar and St. Patrick’s Day. Being able to keep

everyone satisfied is no easy task and, according to Davis, the staff works very hard to do just that.

“Our staff puts a lot of time in and we also do all the catering on campus,” said Davis. “I have a great staff, great employees that work for me, they love their job and they try to put their hearts into our work, we want to make sure everyone is happy and satisfied.”

Davis also said that their door is always open for any comments so that students can remain satisfied with the food they are receiving.