Vanderbilt Campus Dining altered its offerings in several locations across campus. These changes include a new bagel bar in Commons, rotating desserts at EBI and flatbread pizzas at Rand. There is also now a daily limit of three meal swipes at Suzie’s locations.
Sean Carroll, senior director of communications and marketing, said student feedback was the primary driver behind changes within Campus Dining.
“Student voices, paired with analysis of operational data, such as item performance and traffic patterns, help us identify where upgrades or additions can enhance the overall dining experience,” Carroll said. “In some cases, our culinary team had already been exploring new concepts and student input helped guide and refine those final decisions.”
According to Caroll, the implementation of student feedback in recent dining changes required the dining team to work with staff to assess logistics, coordinate training and evaluate how the change was received once launched.
“One of the more common challenges is determining how to efficiently plant transition stations between meal periods,” Carroll said. “However, with staff input and operational planning, each location successfully implemented the updates.”
One of the new additions, the Commons Bagel Bar, features rotating cream cheese flavors, bagel varieties and additional toppings. The plain, blueberry and everything bagels will stay every week due to popular demand.
“The overall response to these upgrades has been positive, with great student feedback and engagement,” Caroll said. “Notably, Commons breakfast has seen increased participation seven days a week.”
Sophomore Anna Vlahakos shared how this change positively affected her routine. “I have a 9:30 class on Commons every Tuesday and Thursday, so I usually end up eating on Commons before class,” Vlahakos said. “I get a breakfast sandwich every day, and I’ve always wanted more of a variety for the sandwich bread, and I can get that now with the bagel bar.”
E. Bronson Ingram dining hall has also made additions to its offerings. Alongside the previously offered Sweet Loren’s chocolate chip, oatmeal cranberry and fudgy brownie cookies, new desserts such as banana bread and brownies are rotated throughout the week.
“At EBI, the introduction of rotating dessert features has given our culinary team the opportunity to experiment with new ideas while gauging student preferences,” Carroll said. “This approach allows us to test different items, gather feedback and determine which offerings resonate most with students before making longer-term decisions.”
At Rand Dining Hall, students are now offered cheese and pepperoni thin-crust flatbread pizzas. Chefs are working on new varieties with rotating flavors and specialty offerings. First-year Billy Renhoff expressed his satisfaction with this addition.“The pizza was amazing,” Renhoff said. “It was cooked to perfection.”
Campus Dining also implemented a three-swipe limit per day at associate operator locations. These locations include Suzie’s, Wasabi, VandyBlenz, Holy Smokes and Grins.
“The limit was put in place to ensure the meal plan remains fair, sustainable and accessible for all students,” Carroll said. “Meal plans are designed to provide variety and flexibility across campus dining locations, and this adjustment helps preserve that balance while allowing us to continue offering a broad range of options.”
Sophomore Loreli Crouch, an employee at Suzie’s Food for Thought Cafe, commented on the recent change, sharing how the cafe is trying to push back on Vanderbilt Dining’s decision to implement swipe limits.
“We woke up to a text from Vanderbilt saying we will now be allowing you guys to only take three meal swipes, but Suzie’s is trying to fight that so we can go back to unlimited swipes,” Crouch said. “We still have a pretty steady flow of traffic though, so I don’t think it’s really affected people, and honestly I don’t think a lot of people know about it.”
Carroll shared Campus Dining’s plans for the future, which will use the same methodology as their most recent changes.
“Our culinary and operations teams continuously evaluate opportunities to refresh menus and enhance the student experience,” Caroll said. “We are already exploring additional concepts for other dining locations, guided by the same combination of student feedback and operational insight.”
