Market Square currently serves or will serve eight of the top 10 foods on college campuses listed in a Sodexo survey, a Dining Services representative said.

The top 10 foods were determined by Sodexo in a national survey of 600 colleges and universities, but the university did not participate in the study, Legia Abato, district marketing manager for Dining Services, wrote in an e-mail.

Market Square currently serves the following college favorites: apricot-glazed turkey, meatloaf with frizzle-fried onions, vegetarian lentil shepherd’s pie, stuffed pork chops, lemon herbed baked tilapia and home-style pot roast. Market Square will soon offer top 10 items not previously on the Market Square menu, such as Vietnamese pho and rotisserie chicken, she wrote.

Students are diverse in the kinds of foods they prefer, making it difficult for Dining Services to plan menus with which students are happy, Abato said.

“We have groups on campus that identify very much with more comfort type of food,” Abato said.

Dining Services aimed to serve a variety of food so that all students could find foods they identified with, Abato said.

Several changes in Market Square menus resulted from the Student Government Association’s Dining Services Committee, Abato said. The committee gave Dining Services information about what students wanted to see, she said.

Kelly Raw, marketing manager for Dining Services, said that although TCU did not participate in Sodexo’s top college foods survey, Market Square did hand out a customer satisfaction survey from Sodexo in the fall.

Abato said in the next year, Dining Services is going to try a new kind of polling. A poll every few years would help determine what kinds of foods students want, but the format of the poll has not yet been decided, she said.

Abbey Brokos, a sophomore political science major and Dining Services Committee chairwoman, said the committee had not done any polling of students, but it does have comment boxes located at all eating facilities on campus where students can leave feedback. The Dining Services Committee used friends’ views on the food at Market Square and personal experiences to determine what students on campus are looking for, she said. Some of the things Dining Services implemented as a result of committee suggestions include the omelet bar, the pasta section, more kinds of cereal and more kinds of milk, Brokos said.

Some students prefer comfort food, but they may get tired of it, Brokos said. Market Square should have a balance between trendy food items and comfort foods, she said.
Dining Services did well with listening to and implementing suggestions from the committee, she said.

“I think that the common misconception that people have is that Sodexo isn’t willing to work with us at all,” Brokos said. “They are extremely receptive, and they really do listen to all of our concerns, and they do implement them right away.”

Alexis Tribble, a junior early childhood education major, said Market Square should ask students input more often of what foods Market Square should serve. Tribble said she filled out a Market Square survey last fall and requested that Market Square indicate which foods contain nuts because of her peanut allergy. She said she feels like her survey response was not addressed.
Tribble also said Market Square offers the same foods too often.

“They don’t change it up,” Tribble said.
Market Square should serve both trendy food and comfort food, Tribble said. Students like to try new foods like sushi when they are away from home, but students also want to see some food that is familiar to them, she said.

Mallory Tarp, a sophomore strategic communication major, said Market Square provided the food students want, but the food was not convenient because there was not enough food on the east side of campus, where most academic buildings are located.

Tarp said she thought Market Square should serve more trendy foods in addition to comfort foods.

“I feel like the comfort food, whenever they try to do it, is not up to par,” Tarp said.

Top 10 College Foods

1. Apricot-glazed turkey

2. Meatloaf with frizzle-fried onions

3. Vietnamese Pho

4. Vegetarian lentil shepherd’s pie

5. Chicken adobo

6. Stuffed pork chops

7. Vegetarian jambalaya

8. Lemon herbed baked tilapia

9. Rotisserie chicken

10. Home-style pot roast

Items in bold are currently served at Market Square.

Items marked with ** will be incorporated in the Market Square menu.

Source: Sodexo