A lack of variety in dining options on campus

Bea Rouse - Contributor

On the Bishop’s campus, the company of Sodexo reigns supreme as the primary provider of food options for students and staff. Excluding only the Tim Horton’s in the Sports Plex, Sodexo is responsible for food in the Purple Pod, Dewhurst Dining Hall, the Library Café, the Bus Stop Café and catering for campus events. If someone wants to eat on campus, they are nearly guaranteed to be ordering from one of the Sodexorun food options. Students in any of the traditional- or bog-style residences are also required to be on the meal plan for the duration of their time in residence, providing them a streamline to the oncampus dining options.

The Sodexo website promotes their sustainability and communitycentered focus, proclaiming that they provide food services in 56 countries. Despite this, Dewies’ offerings for allergies or alternate diets are often complained about as severely limited — students with dietary restrictions can find themselves struggling to feed themselves on-campus.

The Bus Stop Café runs out of food options extremely quickly in the morning rush, and has only half a dozen seats. The Library Café, which was re-opened this year after being closed for much of the previous year under covid-19 restrictions, is similarly understocked. It rarely has the products on its menu, running out of staples like bread. The Purple Pod, which is relatively new to campus, offers little in the way of healthy food. The majority of the menu items are deep-fried, and students are not able to order from the cold food section if using the meal plan to pay. The Purple Pod does have smoothies, but they are extremely sugary, and count more as dessert than healthy. Dewies, the main dining option for students in residence, has had a troubled history of food poisoning, especially for those with food allergies in quarantine during the pandemic. In addition to this, in 2017, students had the misfortune of finding a dead mouse in the spinach container of the stir fry bar. Beyond the lack of diversity amongst the food options on campus, students looking for a late-night snack are out of luck. The Purple Pod, the campus dining option that is open the latest, closes at 11 p.m. Late night Dewies, which students who attended Bishop’s pre-pandemic will recall, is a thing of the past, now replaced by the Purple Pod, which closes several hours earlier, is not self-serve, and is not fully covered by the meal plan. Tim Hortons closes between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and the Library Café and Bus Stop Café are closed on weekends.

In the past, before the pandemic, the campus had a Quiznos, the Gaiter Grill, and a smoothie bar. Adding more variety – more healthy options and options inclusive to those with allergies and dietary restrictions — is something Bishop’s should strive for in order to provide students in residence with a better experience.