Story by Cody Hall, Contributing writer
Students have expressed complaints about the inconsistent ice cream flavors at Winslow Dining Hall.
Many students find the path to good ice cream at Winslow Dining Hall a bit of a rocky road, but ice cream requests can – and have been – fulfilled.
At Winslow, there is always some form of frozen treat for those who want it. But students have complained about the inconsistency of the flavors that the dining hall offers. One week they will have someone’s favorite, and the next it is gone.
“If you aren’t going to have good flavors, at least have decent ones on the days we don’t have the amazing flavors,” said Emma Boehm, sophomore from Waterloo, Illinois. “Most of the time, the good flavors are gone within a day or an hour.”
Tim Bruce, executive chef at Winslow, said that all of the flavors cost almost the same. The plain flavors cost slightly less, but the price difference is small enough that it does not matter which flavors are bought.
Boehm’s favorite flavor is mint chocolate. She explained that there were weeks that there would be mint chocolate available every single day, and the next week there wasn’t a single tub put out. And many of the less desirable flavors are there consistently, Boehm said.
“We check all the time, and there are empty tubs just sitting there sometimes,” said Keesha Pedigo, freshman from Morgantown, Kentucky. “They should check every hour to make sure that they aren’t out.”
Pedigo said during lunch a friend asked for moose tracks flavored ice cream, her personal favorite, and the workers quickly provided a tub of it. It was not difficult for them to get the ice cream when asked. This was not a busy day, or one during which the ice cream was in high demand.
Winslow has around 16 different flavors at any given time, said Timothy Heriges, inventory and receiving clerk for Winslow. He orders around 25 to 30 buckets of ice cream per week to prevent it from running out.
“It wouldn’t be sanitary to replace half-finished buckets and throw them back into the freezer. But we can have it put out after one of the buckets is empty,” Heriges said. “We try to switch them out so we have more variety.”
The flavors that are on the floor are completely decided by the workers at the time, Heriges said. They bring out the flavors that are easiest to get to. So if there are tubs from the previous day that were not used, they are going to be the first ones to be brought back out.
For students who want their voice to be heard, the food committee meets every other Tuesday in Hart Residential College. Different flavor requests and frequency of flavors can be brought up at these meetings and influence them.
“A few years back at the food committee meetings we had students tell us that they wanted birthday cake ice cream out 24/7, so we had a slot just for it. And we haven’t had a single ice cream request this year,” Heriges said.