Saga Inc.’s decision to extend serving hours in the Knorr Dining Room this semester has succeeded in increasing meal attendance, but the longer hours are hard on workers.
The early openings for lunch and dinner have proved mostly successful, according to Kevin Kirwan, general manager of Saga.
“What I’ve noticed on it is we’ve had a slight increase — more students are able to make it to meals,” Kirwan said. “The earlier hours are very appealing to people, and on the weekends, Friday and Saturday nights, staying open the extra half hour seems very popular.”
The extra half-hour after each weekday meal is very lowly-attended, however.
Junior Alex Tacoma, head student manager in Saga, says that the late hours — 1:30 p.m. for lunch and 7:30 p.m. for dinner — have been very unpopular with students and workers. Coming in late means that food is old, and Saga workers have to stay at their job and continue preparing for customers who never come.
“It’s been in my opinion an overall failure, not a good idea,” Tacoma said. “We have learned some things from it — the extra half hour the food is out it gets cold and stale. The problem with Saga is that the food is not changing. It’s all in presentation.”
Tacoma says that the expanded hours are just another problem for a job that’s hard enough to keep people in already.
“If you compare Saga to any job on campus, it’s the least desirable,” Tacoma said. “We have problems already, and I don’t see this changing anything.”
Having to work the late half-hour puts extra strain on student workers who have to juggle their job with homework and extracurricular activities.
“I think the hours are detrimental to Saga workers, because the place basically shuts down at 7 p.m. and we all then sit around but can’t clean up until the doors close at 7:30 p.m.,” said Saga employee and sophomore Luke Adams. “Then if I want to do homework or go to a meeting or something, I can’t.”
Adams is also concerned that the extensions are expensive, because more food is left unused, and each worker must be paid to stay on for extra time.
“The student’s dining dollar is going a shorter distance,” Adams said. “We have to throw away a ton of food at the end of each shift.”
Saga Operations Manager Marty Morrison says that the new hours are much more convenient for students, and the extended meals let the cooking staff stagger their work and avoid wasting food, as they begin making food to order in the last half hour. As to some employees complaints, he said that they’re not looking at the full picture.
“In some of our employees’ opinion, it’s probably not worth it to stay open,” Morrison said. “But there are a lot of aspects they’re not considering.”
Morrison clarified that once they are able to observe the new hours in action, they’ll be able to adjust for waste.
Sophomore Kendall Karpack said that she likes the new hours, but sympathizes with the Saga workers who dislike them.
“As a customer, I appreciate Saga’s efforts to make it more accessible to students, especially athletes,” Karpack said. “But I understand the complaints of the workers, it’s difficult, when you have other commitments, to work that much at a time.”
Sophomore Matt Sauer registered unreserved support for the change.
“Love them! It’s the best thing to ever happen to, in, and with Saga!” Sauer said. “It’s convenient, it takes the pressure off and allows for more flexibility. It’s practical.”
