Campus Auxilary Services (CAS) needs to standardize products available at its various outlets. The point of contention here is not the quality or the price of the products and services that the food service company provides our campus, but how it sells what it produces.
There are a number of cases that need to be addressed to illuminate just what is being overlooked in CAS's sales and stocking practices. It's true that Books and Bites is notable for its café-like selection of foods; the items sold there are decidedly more breakfast and snack oriented that in other eateries on campus.
However, the standardization of products comes into play first with what Books and Bytes sells and what the other food places do not. Everything bagels, particularly, are not sold in any other place on campus, which is odd, since the Union is host to two food outlets.
Even though the Union boasts the Campus Grind and its focacias, it apparently would be too troubled to sell an everything bagel for sandwich-making needs in GUS, or simple buttering purposes at the café.
Focacias, being the unique sandwiches that they are, do not necessarily need to be dispersed all over campus. The ease of placing everything bagels for sandwich-making needs, in places other than the Books and Bytes, however would be an easy and expedient way of standardizing the food lineup.
Returning to the point of the focacias, it's understandable that certain types of foods can only be made where the necessary equipment can be found; a sourdough sandwich really can only be made at the Mary Jemison grill. However, simple ingredients and meal components can be standardized.
Setting aside the everything bagel example, the sandwich shop at the top of Mary Jemison only has bacon available on special sandwich days. This equates to no daily BLT's for students. One could argue that bacon can be found in the Union's GUS sandwich shop, which is only a few steps away.
This is true, but since Mary Jemison has become such a social hub for students at Geneseo, and since it offers such a wide array of food choices for people, it's odd that something as simple as bacon wouldn't be served at the sandwich shop.
What's even more peculiar is that the sandwich grill, just a floor below, occasionally offers sandwiches with bacon on them, yet bacon isn't found just a floor above. CAS is making visible and appreciated strides in its continual efforts towards increasing student satisfaction and food quality. Still, simple steps towards standardization would help streamline the eating experience around campus, leading to even higher student satisfaction.
This isn't a call to place Taco Bells in every place a student can use his or her meal card; it's just a call for pragmatic examination of how CAS sells what it sells and where.