Kyle Swint, Staff Writer

French food service company Sodexo has long partnered with Armstrong to supply its dining and catering needs. Each month, food crew meetings are held open to the public to address a variety of topics.

In these meetings, students, faculty and staff are given the opportunity to sit down with the Sodexo team and express their opinions about how dining services are operating. Discussions can relate to prices, food selection, staff concerns and service suggestions for the team.

Midway through the Fall 2015 semester, an idea was again pitched that the Galley should offer a to-go option for student meals. At the time, dining service manager Sam Ramos had already considered it but did not have all the logistics planned out.

However, at the next food crew meeting, the local Sodexo team had developed a way to allow students the convenience of a to-go option. The following semester in Spring 2016, the to-go option became available to the Armstrong Community. Since its release, the to-go option has not faced a single hiccup and has been running smoothly.

Resident Dining Manager Brandon Day supplied more information on how much food Armstrong’s meal swipe would provide through the to-go option and how dining services and Sodexo came to these numbers.

“During our eight week, 16-person focus group study, we evaluated the normal dine-in intake to determine the value/weight to equal price. Since the program began, very few diners have gone over the 1.5 lb meal swipe weight. Now guests can put as much food as they like in the provided to-go container and anything above 1.5 pounds is prorated at $4.99 a pound.”

Students have mixed feelings about the to-go option.

Senior biochemistry major Eric Branch commented, “I love the to-go option. It gives me more freedom and flexibility.”

“I like the to-go option, but the cup they provide is way too small,” junior psychology major Nailah Fulton said.

Other students feel more strongly about the to-go option.

Junior psychology major Kityara James said, “It’s a good concept, but at the same time it shouldn’t be a meal swipe, it should be seen as the same value as the amount they take off when using a meal swipe at WoW or Quiznos.

For more information on what the team is currently trying to accomplish, ask the Galley staff about the next food crew meeting.