Maurion Jamison
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — Winthrop University is using a new food service provider this semester, which has come with a number of changes in the student dining experience.

Winthrop announced Chartwells Higher Education as the food service provider in August, replacing Sodexo Food Services.

However, some of the changes have received mixed reviews from students.

For example, Chartwells has set up new kiosk ordering system in the DiGiorgio Campus Center, which officials say is intended to streamline and speed up the ordering process.

But, some students say it’s causing delays.

“When it comes to getting your order in, it’s definitely faster production, but I feel like there is an overload of orders, because they’re getting in orders faster than they can get out,” said sophomore Boyd Brackett, a business administration major.

Chartwells employees say the system should become faster as both students and staff get used to the new process. 

“The kiosk at first, it was bad, because it did not work for a while and people didn’t know what they were doing so it caused traffic,” said Carlos Frank, an employee at Chick-fil-A in the campus center. “But now that people have gotten the hang of it over the last two-three weeks, it has gotten a little better.”

Along with the new kiosk system, Chartwells also added five new food options in the DiGiorgio Campus enter, which officials say increases the variety and improves the dining choices on campus.

As the year progresses, many students say they are both excited and appreciative of the new changes and progress the university is making to make sure student voices are heard, especially when it comes to their dining choices.