Dining Services Sends Out Food Poll

Students will have to choose between more than just chickwiches and sweet and sour pork this week if they fill out the extensive survey that Harvard Dining Services (HDS) is currently conducting.

The survey, which was sent to 2,300 randomly selected undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students, faculty and staff, asks respondents about the following subjects: eating habits, preferred food type, service hours, specific campus dining locations, payment options and particular brand names.

"What we're looking for is good quality information regarding the size of the market for retail operations within the Harvard community," said Richard E. Wheeler of Fessel International, the independent research firm that is helping to conduct the survey.

According to a letter sent to stu- ,dents from HDS Director Michael P. Berry, thesurvey is just part of an ongoing effort by theDining Services to be more responsive to itsusers' needs.

"Our long-range plan must satisfy your needs asstudents," the letter said. "Good customer serviceis defined as exceeding our customers'expectations. This survey will help us understandwhat you expect."

As an incentive to complete the survey, HDS isoffering a 10-dollar credit to respondents'University ID cards that can be used at any campusrestaurant.

In one area of the survey, students are askedto indicate preferences among such nationalrestaurant chains as Burger King, Boston Chicken,Pizza Hut and Subway.

But Wheeler warns students not to assume thatfast food will be the next addition to the HDS.

"While we did ask some questions regarding someparticular brands [it was] not necessarily tobring one particular brand on campus," he said.

"We may find out that there is a particularbrand that is overwhelmingly popular," he said,adding that HDS may try to approximate popularchoices with their own "in-house brands."

According to Wheeler, Harvard is not the firstcollege to conduct such a survey. "Some campusesdo it extremely frequently," he said, citing UCLAand LSU as schools that have successfully usedstudent opinion in the past.

As for the Harvard survey, Wheeler noted thatits usefulness in affecting future HDS policy willultimately depend on students' responses.

While Wheeler did not make any predictions asto possible results, he said he was optimistic."Hopefully we'll get a good level of response thatis statistically sound."

Once the data is collected, it will take abouttwo or three weeks for the information to bestatistically analyzed, Wheeler said.

Even though the survey is long, students saidthey will complete it because they recognize theeffort that the Dining Services is making inasking for their opinion.

"They've made a lot of changes, and theydeserve the feedback," said Rebecca A. Schiesser'95.

Schiesser suggested that HDS festive mealsshould be sacrificed to provide a more consistentlevel of quality.

"They do all these special dinners, which arenice, but they should probably just spend themoney towards general food quality," she said.

While Schiesser will complete the survey to behelpful, Martin A. Baker '98 has other motives."I'll probably do it," he said. "For the 10bucks."

Like Schiesser, Baker hopes that some changeswill come about as a result of the survey.

"I would like to see more meal planoptions--like maybe 10 meals a week or seven mealsa week," Baker added.

According to the letter to students, HDS willshare the results of the survey with students nextfall

"Our long-range plan must satisfy your needs asstudents," the letter said. "Good customer serviceis defined as exceeding our customers'expectations. This survey will help us understandwhat you expect."

As an incentive to complete the survey, HDS isoffering a 10-dollar credit to respondents'University ID cards that can be used at any campusrestaurant.

In one area of the survey, students are askedto indicate preferences among such nationalrestaurant chains as Burger King, Boston Chicken,Pizza Hut and Subway.

But Wheeler warns students not to assume thatfast food will be the next addition to the HDS.

"While we did ask some questions regarding someparticular brands [it was] not necessarily tobring one particular brand on campus," he said.

"We may find out that there is a particularbrand that is overwhelmingly popular," he said,adding that HDS may try to approximate popularchoices with their own "in-house brands."

According to Wheeler, Harvard is not the firstcollege to conduct such a survey. "Some campusesdo it extremely frequently," he said, citing UCLAand LSU as schools that have successfully usedstudent opinion in the past.

As for the Harvard survey, Wheeler noted thatits usefulness in affecting future HDS policy willultimately depend on students' responses.

While Wheeler did not make any predictions asto possible results, he said he was optimistic."Hopefully we'll get a good level of response thatis statistically sound."

Once the data is collected, it will take abouttwo or three weeks for the information to bestatistically analyzed, Wheeler said.

Even though the survey is long, students saidthey will complete it because they recognize theeffort that the Dining Services is making inasking for their opinion.

"They've made a lot of changes, and theydeserve the feedback," said Rebecca A. Schiesser'95.

Schiesser suggested that HDS festive mealsshould be sacrificed to provide a more consistentlevel of quality.

"They do all these special dinners, which arenice, but they should probably just spend themoney towards general food quality," she said.

While Schiesser will complete the survey to behelpful, Martin A. Baker '98 has other motives."I'll probably do it," he said. "For the 10bucks."

Like Schiesser, Baker hopes that some changeswill come about as a result of the survey.

"I would like to see more meal planoptions--like maybe 10 meals a week or seven mealsa week," Baker added.

According to the letter to students, HDS willshare the results of the survey with students nextfall