Julia Garrison
News Editor
One of the things that can make or break your collegiate experience is the food. Being a senior this year, I have seen Wooster’s dining services outsourced and whittled away. It’s not unusual for an institution to go through such aggressive changes when grappling with looming budget concerns, but it can be disappointing and confusing when the changes are night and day every year.
My freshman year was the dining hall that I took for granted — stir fry at night, eggs all day with bacon, consistent options for food-sensitive groups and egg and cheese bagels made to order. Were they always “good” options? Not necessarily — but they were consistent and regular. I knew there would be a meal I could find in the dining hall regularly.
In February 2022, administrators announced the switch to outsource dining operations to a company — which would later be revealed to be Creative Dining Services. Workers voiced their concerns and the Voice ran a spread highlighting the importance of keeping dining services local. At this time, Kittredge was operational for a fourth meal, the C-Store’s hours extended as late as 1:00 a.m., Knowlton was open on the weekends and Kittredge also offered local business spotlights from three separate businesses for lunch during the week — including the coveted Oma Gourd.
For those of you who were not lucky enough to stand in the Oma Gourd line — the line would extend from the service area of Kittredge, loop around the dining area once, snake through the entrance area and usually extend out the door. The line would never die down during the entirety of service and was arguably one of the most delicious meals that campus dining had during the week, serving burrito bowls filled to the brim with toppings. Some people swiped in twice and would fill a to-go container with food — it was just that good.
The Green Vegetarian and The Curry Pot were the two other lunch options — beyond Soup and Bread — and they also offered a variety of foods on their specific menus for students to choose from if they could not find an option they liked at Lowry or Knowlton. On top of all of these options, Campus Dining would sometimes host food trucks outside of Knowlton for lunch where students could use meal swipes.
A lot of these non-Lowry options were introduced because the building itself was undergoing construction — and dining services explained that it was to combat the fact that Mom’s was no longer present and Old Main (not yet occupied by Boo Bears) was completely closed.
Once Lowry re-opened — which ran concurrently with the outsourcing of Wooster’s dining services — I watched these other options quickly fade away. Kittredge was closed for fourth meal, citing that the new Mom’s Late-Night service would replace it. Lunches in Kittredge also were restricted back to Soup and Bread. Knowlton closed on weekends. The only positive in a world of negatives was Boo Bears Brew, a local cafe that operated jointly with Local Roots downtown — which moved into the basement of Kauke, having sat vacant for the entirety of my freshman year.
What I now lacked in options, Boo Bears made up for. They partnered with other local businesses to serve premade sandwiches, quinoa bowls, sweet treats and bagels. The hype around Oma Gourd quickly found its way to the lines at Boo Bears, extending into the basement hallway of Kauke during open hours. Devastation rang if their espresso machine broke. It was a place to meet friends, with low lighting and good music — something that the other dining options severely lacked, with the “new” Lowry giving more of a hospital, cafeteria feel.
It was obvious there was going to be outrage when Creative Dining Services decided not to renew Boo Bears’ lease this fall. I have watched Wooster chip away at their relationships with local businesses and services, and this felt like the penultimate blow in what will be a somber academic year.
I do not pretend to be an expert on budgeting and finances and understand that the administration — both on and off campus — has a job to do when it comes to making tough decisions that will keep Wooster afloat, but Boo Bears was one of the newer services on campus that students felt they had completely gotten behind.
Many students expressed their concern for the choice of installing Creative Dining Services into Wooster’s dining services even before the decision to close Boo Bears was made — concern riddling the approval ratings survey the Voice completed last semester. One student explained that their concern was not with employees of the College before the outsource, but with the outsourcing and the company itself. In the elaboration of their opinions listed on the approval ratings survey, they said, “I doubt Creative Dining was the right choice for us.”
