Comparison between Florida University of Technology and University of Florida Dining Halls - Essay Example

? Comparison between Florida of Technology and of Florida Dining Halls Table of Contents Introduction 2 Features of the Florida University of Technology dining hall 2 Centralization into one building 2 Cleanliness 3 Quality and variety of meals 3 Presence of bars and international drinks 3 Different alcoholic bars and beverage bars 4 Variety of meal plans 4 Considers students living away from the college 4 Time schedule 5 Features of the University of Florida dining hall 5 Decentralization into 45 different locations 5 Different brands provide meals to the students 6 Variety of meals 7 Meals cater for different lifestyles 7 Different meal plans for students 7 Considers students living away from the college 8 Conclusion 8 Introduction While providing dining services to their students, different universities have different plans. While some will opt to provide food to the students by themselves, others contract outside caterers and food companies to provide these services to the poor. Others will have their dining halls centralized at one building while others prefer decentralized services. However, the ultimate objective of these plans is providing quality and affordable meals to the students. in this easy, I present my findings from an analysis of two leading universities’ dining halls in the state of Florida, the Florida University of Technology dining hall and the University of Florida dining hall. Features of the Florida University of Technology dining hall Centralization into one building The Florida University of Technology dining hall, commonly known as the Panther Dining Hall, is the sole food provider to the students in the campus. Located at the main residential building in the university, the dining hall seeks to provide the students with convince in the accessibility of food to the students. It is a strategic position for the students, as it saves them time and energy whenever accessing food services. Students from all parts of the university find it rather convenient to access the dining hall from this location, than if it were located elsewhere in the campus (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013.) Cleanliness One of the most remarkable features of the dining hall is its cleanliness, calm and serene environment. With its large windows that always remain open; the dining hall has a good supply of air. Additionally, students can enjoy outside weather, by choosing to eat from the outside. There are cleaners who constantly keep on mopping the floor, thus maintaining its clean nature. Quality and variety of meals Despite being the sole food provider in the university, the dining hall strives to offer the students with a variety of meals that are high quality and affordable. Professionally prepared and packaged, the students receive high standard services from the dining hall. Having a meal in the hall gives one the impression of eating from a three star restaurant. Among the popular meals available in the dining hall to the students, include pizza buffet, pasta to order, deli, dessert, home-style entree with carvery, and salad (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013.) Presence of bars and international drinks Within its premises, there is an international bar and grill, which serves students with different alcoholic brands. With a variety of different alcoholic beverages, most of which are drawn from different countries, the dining hall factors in the international students (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013.) Therefore, one does not have to leave the campus premises in order to have their drinks. Not unless the students want to for a night out in the city, the dining hall fully caters for all the drinks that students could require. This enhances their security, as they do not have to leave the school compound most of the times. Different alcoholic bars and beverage bars The dining hall also has a beverage bar, one that serves the non-alcoholic drinks to the students (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013). This allows the non-alcoholic students have a good time in the college. Additionally, it allows students such as friends hold personal meetings while having a soft drink or coffee. Additionally, it also has a panini bar that serves the students with their favorite drinks without having to leave the college for one of their preferred drinks. Variety of meal plans Students enjoy a variety of meals from the dining hall, thanks to the meal plan by the dining hall management. These meal plans fit different lifestyles for the students, thus catering for all the social classes in the college. Among the meal plans offered to the students by the Panther dining hall, include MPA1, MPA2, MPU1, and MPU2 (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013.) All these provide unlimited meal credits to the students, but for a specified number of days. Considers students living away from the college There is however a different meal plan, the Commuter A, which provides unlimited lunch credits for five days a week to the students. However, these two meals seek to serve different types of students, with the MP meal plans serving the residential students and Commuter A plan catering for off-campus students (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013). Time schedule The management of the Panther dining hall is strict on time that students can have their meals. While most students prefer to have their meals at any particular time, the Panther does not allow this, as there is stipulated time for operation. This is a major limitation of this dining hall. For instance, during the fall semester hours, the dining hall is in operation from 7 AM to PM at night during weekdays, i.e. from Monday to Friday. On weekends, i.e. Saturdays and Sundays, is in operation from 8.30 AM to 8.30 PM in the evening (“Florida Institute of Technology,” 2013.) Due to this arrangement, food is unavailable to the students in the late night hours. This inconveniences students who would wish to have late night meals instead of evening meals. Another limitation of this facility is that not all services could be available to the students at all times. Features of the University of Florida dining hall Decentralization into 45 different locations The University of Florida dining hall, commonly known as Gator dining hall, offers 45 different eating locations within the campus (“University of Florida,” 2013.) In a unique way, the dining hall hopes to bring student’s most preferred restaurants close to the students. This improves the quality of life of the students in the university, as they can assess their favorite meals from within the college. This not only saves them time, it also saves them money, as they do have to order food from the outside, or going to procure it themselves. Although most universities seek to provide high quality meals, providing exactly similar meals with the top brands in the state is unlikely. Thus, students at various instances will seek meal services from outside, especially from their favorite brands. For the University of Florida students, this is different. With its main aim being making campus life easier, students can assess meal services from the comfort of their residential areas, or near lecture halls. Different brands provide meals to the students With the high presence of different brands in the campus, there is a high variety of meals available to the students. Some could offer closely related foods, but relatively substitutable. Subsequently, students do not suffer from high pricing. All brands charge reasonable prices, affordable to the students due to the high competition of the various brands. Moreover, Gator dining hall seeks to ensure that the prices charged per meal by all these brands is student friendly, avoiding any form of exploitation from the meal providers. In addition, students enjoy high quality meals, a result of the various brands trying to gain competitive advantage from each other. Variety of meals Despite the university being the manager, the dining hall offers students with a variety of the most popular food providers in the state. Among the most popular brands offering food services in the university, include Subway, Chick-fil-A, Einstein Bros Bagels, Panda Express, Pollo Tropical, Starbucks Coffee, and Moe's Southwest Grill, among others (“University of Florida,” 2013.) Meals cater for different lifestyles Another unique feature of the dining hall is the wide range of meal plans catering for different lifestyles (“University of Florida,” 2013.) With the understanding of the differences in social class in the campus, the dining hall seeks to provide the students with meals that meet their financial capability. Every student can afford a meal in the campus regardless of his or her financial needs. Different meal plans for students Further, Gator Dining Services also offers both meal plans and dining balance accounts to the students. The dining hall offers delicious and economical meal plans to the students that are well balanced with “unlimited seconds” (“University of Florida,” 2013.) In an effort to make the services more interesting and diverse, the dining hall models its residential centers after a European marketplace. This allows for the incorporation of a variety of upscale, authentic, and worldwide foods ranges. Considers students living away from the college Of importance, the dining hall does not discriminate students living a distance from the college. These students benefit from a declining balance account, a meal plan, which is a convenient alternative to the normal students living within the college. This account has a number of beautiful and interesting features. Among these features, include no starting fees, no minimum maintenance balances, and convenient deposits, which students can do at any time. This account has two main advantages; it allows these students to purchase food from all Gator Dining locations, including the convenience stores and eliminates the need to carry cash to the campus (“University of Florida,” 2013.) Conclusion According to the analysis, it is evident that the two dining halls, the Florida Institute of Technology dining hall, and the University of Florida have similarities and differences too. Among the similarities between these two dining halls is the quality of food available, the services provided to the students, the variety of meals in the college as well as different meal plans for the students. There are however differences between the two. While the Florida Institute of Technology dining hall is centralized in one building, enabling students to acquire all the meals and drinks from a central position, the University of Florida is decentralized to 45 different locations, thus enabling students acquire their meals from whenever they wish. Additionally, the University of Florida dining has collaborated with top brands to provide the meals to the students, while the Florida Institute of Technology dining hall offers these services to the students singly. Finally, the Florida Institute of Technology dining hall operates for a stipulated time schedule, while the University of Florida dining hall does not. Overall, University of Florida has different locations where students can conveniently access their meals. Moreover, by contracting different brands to provide meal services to the students, it makes it possible for students to access all services at the same time, while at the same time benefiting from a variety of products. Finally, the dining hall does not have a schedule of operation. For convenience and quality services to the students, the Florida Institute of Technology dining hall should incorporate these to its services. From the analysis, it is possible to draw a number of recommendations for the two universities. The Florida Institute of Technology needs to increase the number of hours that students can access meals in the dining hall. The university could even make the services available at all times. Contracting external service providers would help in making all services available to the students at all times, thus reducing the inconveniences that students suffer whenever some services are not available. Separating the bar from the main dining ha;ll would also make the place more organized and less noisy. On the other, the University of Florida dining hall management should ensure proper inspection of the various meal providers to ensure that they provide high quality meals at all times and that they observe the cleanliness of the areas. Moreover, they should also ensure that all meals are within the reach of the students. Additionally, some of the sections are too close to the lecture theatres that it could affect the concentration of the students. Relocating these to different areas would be the best way of taking care of this problem. References Florida Institute of Technology (2013). Panther Dining Hall. Retrieved from http://www.fit.edu/food/panther_dining_hall.php University of Florida (2013). Gator Dining Services. Retrieved from http://www.bsd.ufl.edu/g1c/dining/dining.asp Read More