Are Student Food Customers Served Well? The Underground Investigates

Photo Courtesy: Elyas Jeffay

They say the customer is king. Does this ring true at UTSC’s food outlets?

“A woman working at the Grill Works (in the H-Wing Market Place) was too busy chatting to a customer and burnt my patty,” said Nikkie Tong, fourth-year management student.  “I asked her to give me a new one, she wouldn’t.”

Sadly, Tong is not the only victim of poor customer service at food vendors on campus.

When trying to grab a bite to eat during study breaks or in-between classes, the kind of customer service offered by various food outlets on campus influences most student’s decisions about where to eat.

“It’s usually long lineups at Subway,” said Yogin Soni, employee at the sandwich-making franchise. “However, students are happy with the food services provided here.”

V. Jeyalefchum, cashier at A&W, echoes Soni’s point of view.

“We always provide good services here [at A&W],” she said. “We have enough people working on the floor, so the waiting time will be shortened for students.”

In an effort to examine average wait times during peak hours, The Underground monitored the four food vendors in the Student Centre on a weekday at 2:30 p.m.

There was one female student waiting in front of Treats, she waited for approximately 10 minutes before getting the drink she ordered.

Three students were in line at Subway; it took the student at the end of the line 15 minutes to get his sandwich. Two staff members were standing in front of the sandwich counter, only one was serving students while the other stood on the side.

Five students were waiting in line at A&W, three of which were in a group at the head of the line. It took them a bit more than 20 minutes to grab a combo meal which only one of the students ordered.  There was only one person operating the cash register.

Three students were in front of Asian Gourmet, one was at the cashier while the other two were choosing their dishes from the food trays. There were three staff workers: one operating the cash register while the other two served food. Each student spent less than five minutes there.

We also visited the Marketplace just before 3 p.m., which had three lines in front of Bene Pasta, Miso and Grill Works each consisting of at least six students. In front of the only operating cash register was another queue of seven students.

“I find it really crowded in here,” said Christine Lewis, first-year humanities student waiting in front of me in the queue at the cashier. “Students just want food that they can get quickly, but they also don’t want to always eat unhealthy fast food.”

Our last stop was Tim Hortons, which, for the bulk of the day, has a permanently long lineup extending towards the door. On several weekends, there has been only one employee at the cash register and one making food.

Adam Hammond, teaching assistant for the English department who holds his office hours in Tim Hortons, said that students don’t always treat the employees well.

“I’ve always noticed that the staff working here seem really stressed,” Hammond said. “They often look unhappy. I have also noticed that a lot of students tend to not really look at the workers or say anything nice to them, even a simple ‘thank you.’  I think if students did, the workers would really appreciate that. It’s a hard job for them.”

We asked Anurag Dixit, the assistant manager of food services at Aramark Canada for answers to customer service problems at food chains on campus. Aramark controls all of the food vendors outside the Student Centre. Dixit said the company is constantly looking for advice from students to improve food services.

“Most customers are very vocal,” Dixit said. “If they don’t like something, they’ll come and let us know, which is a good thing. We want to be part of the student group; we want to know which areas we are not doing so well in.”

So fellow students, if you have stories of poor customer experiences, don’t just complain to your friends, take the extra step and talk to the food suppliers. After all, they know that even if their customers do not love their bad service, their competitors will.

This article was originally published in the Underground (University of Toronto Scarborough Campus's official student news magazine) on Dec. 2, 2010.