Since Albion College contracted their services in 2020, Metz Culinary Management has been a widespread presence across campus.
Through the years, changes to dining services have come in the form of new vendors on campus, 21+ events including alcohol and activities and changed ownership of the campus bookstore. Recently, some Albion students have noticed further changes.
Baldwin
For Nairobi, Kenya, junior Kashish Tank, Baldwin’s meal options have gotten “progressively worse.”
Tank said Baldwin stopped serving a pasta bar she used to see “almost daily at lunchtime” in her first year, but that now, students “only get that like once a month.” Vegan options have also changed, Tank said.
“They stopped having a particular Beyond Burger patty that I used to really like,” Tank said. “They switched it out for this new one, which is drier; it’s just not as good.”
According to Tank, the Main Plate, a meal station in Baldwin that serves a rotating menu of entrées and sides, isn’t open for lunch or dinner on Sundays.
“If they do have stuff on the main plate, it’s self-serve and it’s barely anything,” Tank said.
Milford sophomore and basketball player Anthony Hutter said he thinks Baldwin could have healthier options available for student athletes.
“There’s a lot of athletes that need to fuel their bodies right,” Hutter said. “Sometimes it can be a little difficult to do that at Baldwin.”
Not every student sees the current menu as having decreased in quality, however. Houston junior Haileystar Castaneda said Baldwin’s food has “definitely gotten better in some ways.”
“There’s been a lot of different menu changes,” Castaneda said. “Now the menu items are almost entirely different day-to-day.”
In addition to increased options, Castaneda said she enjoys when Baldwin serves different cultural meals, though she added that Metz Dining needs to do “a bit more research” on their representation of Mexican cuisine.
“Those enchiladas are not enchiladas, you know? I don’t think that’s representative of Mexico,” Castaneda said. “But whoever they have for Cuban night, that’s a Cuban, because those Plátano fritos – perfection.”
Metz General Manager Jeff Davis said management works to be responsive to student input. When Metz attended a student senate meeting this semester, senators asked to have the toppings returned to the ice cream station. Metz obliged.
Coming up on Nov. 11, Davis said Baldwin will host their third annual “Chef Challenge,” featuring competing menus from chefs Jeff and Zach to be judged by a panel of students.
“We’re trying to keep it fun,” Davis said.
The Grinds: We Proudly Serve Starbucks
If students have noticed a change in staffing at The Grinds, Metz Operations Manager Victoria Gross said this is because one staff member is “off right now, but she’ll be back.” The Grinds also recently hired a new barista, though Gross added that Metz supervisors are trained in every area.
“If we do need to shift employees around, we can,” Gross said.
In a recent addition to the options at The Grinds, Davis said cheesecake has joined sandwiches, pastries and bagels as a meal swipe option.
“We got a lot of feedback from the students as a positive from that,” Davis said.
Cheboygan sophomore Sarah Wolfgram said she likes how “easy” it is to get a meal at Starbucks, though she wishes there were more options.
“Starbucks doesn’t have great options for protein,” Wolfgram said.
The Eat Shop: Qdoba
Though grab-and-go options like sandwiches and salads are still being stored at the Eat Shop, Gross said the station will be transitioned completely to the Brit Shop as soon as the refrigeration units in the shop can be connected to power sources.
In another recent change, Gross said nachos have been added as an entrée option at Qdoba in addition to bowls and burritos.
For Hutter, who said he eats at Starbucks and Qdoba “pretty much every day,” Metz does a “good job of making it taste just as good as the normal ones.”
Not every student shares this positive view of Qdoba. Tank said she misses “the old KC, the one we had my freshman year with the bigger bowl sizes.”
“I’ve had issues with how much they put in a bowl,” Tank said. “But as of late they’ve been doing a pretty good job. The employees are wonderful, they do a great job.”
Every Thursday evening, the Eat Shop hosts a pop-up restaurant, Davis said, often with some kind of theme. Last week it was “Brit Island,” which Davis said was “a tribute to Detroit’s Coney Island.
Castaneda said she “appreciates” the pop-ups, adding that she thinks it’s interesting to “shake things up a little.”
If students are looking to submit feedback to Albion College’s dining team, they can do so by scanning QR codes posted outside of Baldwin, or by visiting their feedback page.
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