Food Advisory Board October 27th, 2004
Minute Taker: Michelle Arnold
1. Review of Minutes
No revisions
2. Business Arising from Minutes
Proposal that students be allowed to use their meal plan dollars at The Bomber
Potential problems raised last meetings and addressed by Raveel
Parents may be unhappy regarding the fact that the nutrition value of the food
at the Bomber is unknown
Raveel has contacted Health Services and he is waiting for a reply so that
he can get nutrition feedback
Having a venue that serves alcohol on the meal plan
Raveel points out that having food with alcohol would be safer for the
students
Political conflicts between the FED’s and Food Services
The two parties have come a long way
Reopening the bar agreement
Raveel has said that The Bomber would be open to setting parameters of
control on the kitchen
Mark Murdoch has said that Food Services is concerned about the extra
responsibility of The Bomber
Raveel in turn suggested that if Food Services and The Bomber set up
controls, the Bomber could submit a monthly report
Other venues independent from Food Services may want the same treatment
Raveel points out that the Bomber is a unique environment that’s only
purpose is to serve the students therefore it is not in the same category as
other venues
In order for the Bomber to be on the meal plan they would have to purchase and
use a point-of-sale cash register which costs approximately $12,000
New tax rules may cause complications with meal plans
Meal plans may no longer be GST exempt, therefore a firm commitment on a
change in meal plans will be hard to make
Could always go ahead and then stop the initiative if the tax ruling is
unfavourable
Food and alcohol
Students could begin trading food for alcohol
It is a lot tougher to make healthy food choices in a bar environment and when
students might be intoxicated
Raveel points out that students can make their own decisions
Prices
Food is more expensive than other venues that meal plans can be used at
Leanne is concerned that since parents do not differentiate between Housing and
Food Services, that if The Bomber is put on the meal plan, Housing may no
longer be able to assure parents and students on the health value of the meal plan
A large percentage of students who have a meal plan are underage
Therefore the percentage of students with meal plans that can even go to the
Bomber is very small – however, starting small may be a good thing for the
FEDs
Food services does not want to discriminate based on age
Potential solutions
Would it be possible for students to be able to use their meal plan money at
the Bomber before 9 pm?
Raveel has stated that they are aiming for the bar not to solely be place
where students drink, stopping the use of meal plan dollars at 9pm would
not help this goal
Discussion on this will continue at the next meeting
Tim Horton’s
Served 13,744 cups of coffee last week and served 232 customers in one hour
Resulted in almost $40,000 income in week of the 18th-24th
If this were to continue, this Tim Horton’s would be a $2 million store
However, it is only built to be a $1 million store, more space would be needed
to keep up the pace set in the week of the 18th – 24th
Tim Horton’s has employed 40 students, instead of the original goal of 24
students
This provides over $5000 in student income per week
Design committee is having problems meeting. They have to work out:
The sound system
Greenery
Art work
UW Place
The first meeting has taken place and lots of ideas were knocked around
Must make sure space is used appropriately for a long term project
May potentially build so that it can be built upwards in the future
Christmas meeting
The Christmas dinner will be on December 8th at University Club
Mark will book it
Food Policy
Nothing has happened yet though and will not happen until next term
3. Nutrition Report
Irene
Irene and Mike Dickin did a seminar on the 27th at UW Place for Dons
The seminar was part of the Grill Cheese lecture series
Mike presented the results of his summer study, Irene supplemented his
information with nutritional facts
The presentation was well received
Irene is continuing work with the weight management program
She is working on making herself more available for appointments
Linda
The first CSI was held at V1, it was at breakfast
There were glitches at first as the students scheduled to participate did not appear
but with some great work on part of the CSI team, more volunteers were recruited
The nutritional analyses Mike did of the breakfasts were posted on the Food
Services site
First CSI was a smash hit!
4. Current Issues
University colleges on the meal plan
Questions were raised as to why the University Colleges are not on the meal plan
The church colleges are private and use an all-you-can-eat meal plan
The idea is that students will eat every meal at their college to create more of a
community
3 out of the four college’s meal plans are supplied by contract caterers
Food services would gladly be a part of the meal plan at the colleges since it
would be of general value to students but the colleges are not interested at this
point, however the administration can be polled to see if this opinion has changed
Contract caterers don’t cater to the students in the way that Food Services does
because there is no money in it
Food Services has a no profit model
Bud will mention any concerns raised by students about meal plans at the
Colleges in his next meeting with the heads of the Colleges
Recycling plastic utensils in the cafeterias
Students are concerned with this
However, no system in Waterloo exists to recycle this kind of plastic
Gloves
Students are still complaining that the Food Services staff does not wear gloves
when they touch the food
If they do start wearing gloves we will not meet Waterloo health requirements
which will generate health regulation citations
Even a more in depth advertising program may not cause people from the GTA to
realize the difference in regulations here and the higher sanitation of hand
washing vs gloves
Perhaps there could be some sort of interactive toy to educate students (i.e. a
bobbley head-like hand that would catch student’s attention and give the message
Further, a section of the Food Services website could be dedicated to this issue -
Jeannie will look into this
Salad dressing
Students like all the new kinds of salad dressing but really miss Italian
All they have to do is ask for it
Vegetarian food
Students are complaining that there is not enough variety and that it sits too long
However, there are always 2 or 3 options with every hot meal and the stir-fry
section is cooked to order to cater to vegetarians
Smaller cooking portions will be looked into
Flies
Students are worried about flies getting into the cafeterias
However, they have left with the cold weather already
Soup vs. Chili
Students put chili in soup bowls and pay a cheaper price
Food Services can’t withhold lids to the bowls because students might spill and
burn themselves
Cashiers are supposed to ask at the cash what is in the bowl
This is not a big enough issue to worry too much about
Chicken soup
Students would like chicken soup available more often
This is difficult because there always has to be two soups, one cream and one
broth, one vegetarian and one not
However, chicken soup will be put into rotation more often
Healthy Bites
Students worried regarding how healthy Healthy Bites really is
Some things have high fat content, but healthiness is not measured by how fatty a
product is
Direct concerned students to Mike’s website where he does nutrient analysis
Price confusion
Haagen Dazs ice cream, full size bags of chips, and Michellinas are all full price
They are marked as such
5. New Business
Ramadan
70-100 students pass through the cafeteria, little less than half are actually fasting
Some students are creating a mess in the cafeteria in the morning
All students are now being handed flyers that reinforce the rules of the cafeteria
and the respect it deserves
RLC’s will contact dons to let their residents now
However, much of the traffic in the mornings are not residence students
Celebrity Chef
He has been booked for the 25th or 26th of November to promote the salad bar
Students invited to submit recipe that uses Renee’s dressing
UW food vouches as prizes
Started in REV, will be open to all students
6. Adjourned at 6:07pm