Dining on the Weekends at Mason

By Broadside News Editor Sonya Hudson

Between the Johnson Center, SUB I and Southside, students have many dining options on campus. Over the weekends the student population as well as the dining options on campus decrease.

The university has to take into consideration the number of people on campus on the weekends and the financial burden of keeping everything open explained Denise Ammaccapane, resident manager for dining services.

According to Ammaccapane, SUB I does not do as much business on the weekends and because Chick-fil-A is a franchise, the university cannot open it on Sundays.

“We can’t have everything open because we don’t have enough people on campus to substantiate everything being open,” said Ammaccapane. “It takes a lot of labor and such to open all of these things.”

“It’s a process,” said Ammaccapane. “We don’t just randomly choose to close Taco Bell or Sub Connection. We run numbers year after year. We look through what we opened last year, how many customers we put through. We can even pull the reports by the quarter hour. Then we go back and make our recommendations to the university,” said Ammacapane.
This process is based on past numbers. Dining services, through past records, can tell how many people went to each dining option and how much money it cost to keep those options open. Through this process, dining services can predict how much it will cost to keep certain dining facilities open, while keeping in mind the needs and wants of the students.

“We are always reevaluating,” said Ammaccapane. “When major events happen on campus we try to have more kiosks open.”
Ammaccapane noted that Southside draws a good many people. There are so many less people on campus during the weekend explained Ammaccapane, that “it doesn’t make financial sense to open every single thing on the weekend.”

Ammacapane noted that dining services receives student input through Student Government. The Student Government Food Committee, made up of a few student senators including Nicole Kukuruda, Chef Peter Schoebel, Mark Kraner, assistant vice president of university services, and Ammaccapane, meets every week to discuss food services, student feedback and evaluate dining services.

“All of us on the committee try to represent the largest number of students possible and put aside personal preferences for the betterment of dining as a whole,” said Kukuruda.

“I represent students in a number of ways,” said Kukuruda, a senior government major and student senator. “I analyze student responses to survey questions about dining concerns, talk to students during my weekly office hours to find out what the issues are, and then discuss these items with the committee.”

Representatives from Student Government keep Ammaccapane updated on their thoughts and opinions on dining. For example, the Food Committee suggested keeping Damon’s open late for the Redskins vs. Cowboys game. Ammaccapane got Damon’s to stay open later with a limited menu as the night progressed.

“We are always looking at what works and what doesn’t,” said Ammacapane. “We’re constantly evaluating what’s best for the university and the students.”

Most of the dining choices are based on money, on “what makes fiscal and financial sense for the university and the people who are here,” said Ammaccapane.

Mason students shared their opinions concerning the weekend dining options.

“Compared to what was available on weekends four years ago when I arrived at Mason, I think our weekend dining options are exceptional!” said Kukuruda. “There will always be room for improvement, but I think dining services is continually headed in the right direction by making more options available and by extending the hours of service.”

Kukuruda reiterated that it is impossible for all food options to be made available on the weekends because of the lack of students on campus.

“At some point one has to decide if they'd rather see Taco Bell open or La Pat. For those kinds of decisions we really look to student surveys to see what students prefer,” said Kukuruda. “The more that students take advantage of extended dining hours, the more leverage we have to say we need more.”

“It’s very limited,” said Jesse King, a junior majoring in computer engineering, speaking of weekend dining options. “Southside serves the same things on the weekends. It gets boring. I would like to see the Sub place open. I can live without Burger King giving me a heart attack,” said King.
Devin Brosnan, a freshman still deciding on a major, thought the weekend food options are pretty good. “I would like to see more in the JC open,” said Brosnan. “I get tired of the same things.”

Unlike King, Brosnan thought Southside was pretty good about providing a variety on weekends. Both King and Brosnan agreed that food options around campus should be open until midnight.

Student input is considered and welcomed by dining services. Students should take their suggestions and concerns to the Student Government Food

Committee or the Student Government office, and they will pass those on to Ammaccapane. Denise Ammaccapane can be reached at dammacca@gmu.edu.