FOOD & BEVERAGE MEETING, THURSDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2014 WALTER GRAVE ROOM Panel: Tim Heath (Domestic

Bursar) Rob Clarke (Catering Manager) Julie Kerr (Deputy Hall Supervisor) Richard Wayman (Head Chef) Nick Fox (JCR Vice-President) Nick welcomes everyone and opens the first open meeting of 2014. Emily Clayton asks about the vegetable and salad options. She feels they dont appeal and therefore, however good the mains are, this puts her off. The variety is poor and the vegetables are often overdone: Rob Clarke replies that it isnt difficult to cook veg in large batches so it isnt overdone; the problem is holding it for the hour that the buttery is open. Over lunchtime there is a rush and after that the veg is just sat there. Could do more options but that would lead to more wastage and that is something college are very careful of. College tend towards broccoli, carrots, sweetcorn and peas. Emily says she really likes it when we have asparagus and veg like that. Rob says he doesnt think its feasible to put out more than two (three with potatoes) veg. Parsnips are not an option. Emily asks where the wastage goes. Rob says we dont recycle wastage. Goes into waste disposal unit, which then flows into the sewage system. Tim Heath comments that a few years ago they had a group cancel late (once their food had been cooked). College offered it to homeless shelters around Cambridge and no one wanted it due to health and safety procedures of heating the food. Whatever can legally be reused here is reused. Rob says the charitable giving thing has been brought up before. It is impractical and we try not to waste instead. We have a blast chiller that freezes food very quickly. If we have a product that we can chill we bring it back in the next few days as a chefs special. They cant do that with every food but they aim to do it as much as possible. Richard Wayman says the cut-off period of working out when people are going to stop coming into buttery is carefully considered but means that food isnt always freshly cooked. Rob says he knows we have too much wastage and its something college are aware of and want to tackle. We would like to reuse as much as we can but we cant waste money. Annie You Yuan asks about the way in which vegetables are cooked here, and whether more inventive ways of cooking vegetables could be used. She also asks how fresh the food in college is and whether everything is made from scratch:

Richard says they have tried making vegetables in different ways but they wouldnt want them to be rejected by students as college are aiming to get buttery numbers up. Rob says they are very open to new ideas from students and that is what the suggestions box is for. Students can also talk to one of the domestic team. The comments in the box need to be specific for them to be constructive, including a date so the staff know to which meal a comment is referring. College need to be sure that food suits everyone and mild food tends to be more popular. Richard says everything is cooked fresh other than things like pies and lasagne that need to be pre-made (unless theyre a chefs special). Kiana Thorpe asked about the comments box and how it could be improved: Rob says that the comments box doesnt work particularly efficiently as the pen keeps getting stolen. Tim Heath suggested an online comments system. Pan Hu says that the quantities of veg are too small for the price: Rob replies that its very subjective. Jackie says if you ask the person serving you for more, thats fine. Tim asks whether people are aware that we are allowed to ask for more. However, Rob says that you cant go over the top because theres a cost issue. Veg is not an issue for this, its the mains that are the issue for more. Paul Bowman asks about portion sizes, as he thinks they are inconsistent: Rob says that we cant count out every piece of food but generally there are rules that the staff is given. Obviously the waiting staff cant be monitored every minute but if youre unhappy there is usually a supervisor on the hatch to speak to. Use the comments box! Kiana asked about formals and whether they could be themed as an incentive to get people to attend: Rob asked for an example- Kiana suggested theme night foods in the form of formals. Richard says its not an impossibility but its quite difficult for exam term. Tim says its certainly possible and they will speak to the steward about this. Rob Machado comments that he likes the food at formal. However, he would like to see more vegetables at formal: Rob Clarke says thank you, and he and Richard have been modelling formal food on the experience of eating good food rather than a typical carvery lunch. He would very much like not to go back to family service system that college had

formerly (bowls of vegetables in the middle of the table) but it is something they could look into. Eleanor Costello says that some theme nights (such as FitznChips) are more popular than others, and feels that there should be more of these: Rob says he is surprised by FitznChips being popular, as the numbers did not reflect this (175 rather than the usual 220). They do try to work out which are popular and bring them back. If anyone has ideas for theme nights tell Richard and he will cook it. Kiana suggests hotdogs. Ashwin Aggarwal asks whether we could have thicker gravy: Richard says yes, he will speak to the chefs. The veggie gravy has recently changed the supplier so it will have gotten better. Ashwin also asks whether we could have a crpe night: Richard says it would be very intensive, takes a long time and wouldnt really work for a large number, so no. Kiana asks whether theme nights could be publicised more widely: Julie says that they are outside the buttery and Will puts them on the website. Emily suggested using the screens around college. Tim says the screens are unreliable but in the future that would be a super good idea. Rob Machado suggested putting them by the pigeonholes. Matt says the point of theme night is to get people into the buttery that dont normally go, so why not advertise far from the buttery. Anna suggests the caf and Rob said therere the menus outside the buttery, which is very near the caf. Annie suggested putting them on the corridor notice boards but this would use too much paper. Nick says the survey showed that very few people attend formal and asks whether anyone would like to comment on this: Emily says twice a month is quite a lot as people do a lot of social activities, and Richard says that this seems like quite a good turnout anyway. Kiana asked about changing the days of formal. Tim says Wednesday is because thats when the governing body meets and eats together at high table, and Fridays are when students let their hair down. Rob says its a college event, not a catering department issue. Tim says that to move the Friday night formal you would need MCR agreement. There is not enough demand to open up another night. Kiana says Friday is quite a quiet night for students in Cambridge so why do we have formal then? Rob says its not the catering departments decision; its a college decision.

Jake says the vegetarian options are great in taste but are non-specifically labelled: Julie says that you should speak to the waiting staff about what is in the veggie option and if youre not given a proper answer ask one of the chefs or go through to the catering office. Rob says they tend to be quite good with their labelling but obviously make staff aware if the labels arent good enough. The survey said that people want a later/longer lunch. Why is this? Dinner is the main meal of the day and because were a hill college lunch is not a big event. Lectures that finish at 1 in town or Sidgwick mean youre going to miss buttery. Another fifteen minutes might be good. Rob says if its busy then they wont shut at 1.30 but stay open a little longer. Rob says they need to have careful about food still being appealing when its been sitting there for ages, as was mentioned earlier. Phil suggests moving lunchtime later rather than making it longer. Rob said thats an individuals preference but if there is a high demand for that its very easy to shift it. Phil asks about the formal times and the rush to be seated. He asks whether the doors could be opened earlier: Julie says that depends on when people leave buttery in the evening. When they have opened at 7.20 before they have had to go and get people from the bar. Superhalls are also a huge crush. Phil asks whether students can be seated at formal tables whilst buttery tables are being cleared- Rob says this is a possibility. Phil clarifies that he doesnt mean being served earlier, just seated earlier. The issue Rob has is that people turn up who havent booked. Phil says students are confused about whether they need to bring cards. Rob states that you have to bring your card to formal- no card, no entry. Until there is a better system (scanning) random card checks remain in place. Tim says opening the doors earlier is a possibility particularly at superhall. Corkage- Rob says corks are taken to stop them being thrown around the room and waiting staff slipping on them. Pan asked whether corks could be kept in case you dont finish your wine: Rob says the corks should go to the bar to be kept for anyone who doesnt finish their wine. Alice says people arent aware of the card checks. Rob says when they first introduced card checks there were lots of rules. Some of the rules then got abolished but some remained and now people are confused. Even if one or two people who havent booked turn up then there are going to be one or two people without seats. However, they have to set places for them

because that is quicker than checking everyones cards. They rely on the honesty of the students. Kiana asked when a scanning system would be brought in: Not for a very long time. The staff is not aware that the meal booking system crashes all the time, or that some people stay up through the night to book tickets, and they will look into getting a new system. A lot of people need to be consulted before the new system is brought in. Nick thanks the panel and audience for attending and concludes the meeting. Rob Clarke finishes by commenting that students shouldnt feel they have to wait for an open meeting to talk to the catering staff. Tim Heath quotes that It is good to talk.