Q&A: Campus Dining

Students can take advantage of new meal delivery options

By California State University, Bakersfield

November 15^th, 2023

What is Campus Dining all about?

Our goal is to enrich and nourish lives.

What does campus dining bring to campus?

Campus dining gives students and staff the ability to dine daily right here where they learn or work. We have a partnership with the campus that provides more than any off-campus vendor, giving back to the campus a percentage of all sales as well as “in kind” catering for a variety of events, most notably student graduation.

Why is food so important to the student experience and overall student success?

A meal program offering healthy options helps nourish the brain. Students need a variety of options based on their diet or even religious needs. We provide a range of options with a goal of meeting these needs. Utilizing multiple lines of communication, such as our “voice of the consumer” surveys, we listen to our guests and adjust when we can give the specific variety the students are looking for.

Tell us more about the food and dining options around campus that are available to students and the campus community.

Not only do we strive to offer specific requests such as vegan, vegetarian and halal options, but we also found students are looking for alternative ways to get their food. We first brought in Grubhub to help with the need to have ready to pick up items, as we found our high-quality cook-to order menu sometimes caused issues with students getting a hot meal prior to class. We were able to expand on this thanks to new technology and we now offer robot delivery, so if you are stuck in a location across campus, we can send a hot meal right to your building. Because student housing is a bit of a walk away from most of our dining locations, we also were able to bring in smart vending machines that give students the ability to utilize their meal plan dollars to buy a variety of items right where they live.

Tell us more about the meal plans and options available to students. How can students and/or the campus community sign up for that, if they don’t currently have one?

Housing students automatically get a plan designed to feed them through the semester, although everyone’s needs are different. All students, including housing students, are always able to purchase declining balance plans at csub.campusdish.com, where they can choose from a $25 to $100 plan and there is no limit, so at the start of the year, we see many students purchasing $500 or more in Dining Dollars. There are two great benefits to these plans. The first is if you buy a $100 plan, it comes with $10 in bonus funds, so $110 for just $100. Second, even the smaller $25 plan saves money because when students use a meal plan, they aren’t charged tax, saving them an additional 8.25% with every purchase.

What are some of the new items or offerings that are available to students this academic year?

New this year was robot delivery through the Grubhub app. Just make sure you add CSUB as your campus affiliate. The Boba Robo launched this fall as well, it is a fun way to get a popular boba tea. It's located in the Runner Café and, if you haven’t seen the robot in action, I encourage you to come check it out. One of the biggest changes this year will be happening over the winter break. We are updating the Walter’s Café in the library to offer self-service coolers and hot beverages. This will be like our system in housing and expands the hours to offer food and beverage any time the library is open.

What is your goal for the campus community when it comes to eating healthier?

We want everyone on campus to have access to healthy items that fit their diet. That may be high-protein foods for athletes or leafy greens for others. Students sometimes need help navigating these options and what fits for them. We want them to know that there are many options to help them, including the CSUB’s on-campus registered dietitian, our Aramark regional dietitian and even our chef. Their contact information is posted in the Runner Café.

Do you have any tips when it comes to nutrition for meals and snacks that students, as well as community and others, can consider when thinking about meals and mid-afternoon pick me ups?

We have a variety of snacks and treats available through our various venues. Although they are tasty, we recommend everyone limit the treats and look for healthy options that will help tame their hunger and improve their health. These options include whole fruits, vegetables and nuts. For meals, we have many options that students often don’t realize are always available, such as gluten-free options like our pasta and hamburger buns, cauliflower crust, Beyond burgers and black bean burgers. We always have a vegan option at our Chef Station. Our Chef Station is the hidden gem. It offers right-sized portions — a full meal that includes a drink and a balance of protein, vegetables and starch.

How can people stay up to date with information, special offers and more when it comes to campus dining at CSUB?

The easiest way is to go to our Dining Services website. Not only can you see hours of operation for every location, you can also see our daily menu offerings in the Runner Café. These menus show nutritional information such as calorie counts and are even marked vegan, vegetarian, plant forward and “Coolfood” for those foods that are low-carbon certified.

Is there anything else that people should know about campus dining that hasn’t been addressed already?

Students should take the time to check out the dining options right on campus. They will find we are priced the same or sometimes less than restaurants in the surrounding off-campus areas. We offer a very high-quality meal with in-house bakery items, 1/3-pound burgers that are always cooked to order and a build-your-own pizza and pasta station. We are always looking for suggestions. We want students to feel comfortable reaching out to our team with any questions they may have because we are here to help them have a great, well-rounded university experience.