Of the various dining halls on campus, perhaps the most diverse is Fresh Food Company. Commonly casually referred to by students as “Fresh,” it not only features a wide array of food options, but it also features lines flowing out the door almost daily.
The best part about Fresh is the central location of the building in relation to the rest of campus. It lies almost directly adjacent to the Quad and is effectively equidistant to almost every residence hall. On top of this, it sits on the edge of the engineering quad, making it an easy walk from the hub of a popular major on campus.
Another positive is the quality of the food. Not only is the menu as diverse as it gets on campus, but the food is generally high-quality across the board. Whether it’s the Italian food station with pizza and pasta, the Subway-esque sandwich station, or the expansive salad bar, there is truly something to eat for every craving and palate.
“Fresh Foods is my favorite dining hall on campus,” said Thatcher Rotenberry, a sophomore majoring in public relations. “It has the best variety of any of the buffet-style dining halls, and I usually feel refreshed after eating there because the produce and protein is so fresh.”
Next, there is the fact that the majority of the dining hall is self-serve. Portion control is one of the most important things to a college student trying to eat healthy, and Fresh provides the opportunity to customize meal size to the highest degree.
Third is the impressive and unique dessert station. Not only does it serve a wide array of cookies, brownies and other sweets, but it is also home to the only doughnut-making machine with a conveyor belt on campus. The station utilizes the machine almost daily, serving fresh doughnuts with a variety of glazes for both breakfast and lunch.
This array of positives doesn’t mean that Fresh does everything perfectly, as there are some downsides to the establishment.
Fresh frequently becomes very overcrowded. Almost any student could attest to not only standing in the line that often reaches outside the building but also searching for a seat inside for multiple minutes. These crowds, typically present at lunchtime, also make for longer lines at the food station. Such crowd sizes and long lines essentially make Fresh a no-go for students in a rush just looking to grab a bite to eat.
“With the number of students that UA is admitting, Fresh either needs to be expanded or Lakeside needs to be revamped to be more like Fresh,” Rotenberry said.
The final con of Fresh is the bizarre layout of the building. On top of the food stations being arbitrarily placed, there are multiple places, like the dish return and a small room dedicated to coffee and breakfast foods, that just feel unnecessarily hidden. It’s easy to become familiar with the design given time, but a student’s first visit to the building is almost certainly going to result in a wrong turn or a stop-and-think moment or two.
It’s certainly less efficient than somewhere like Lakeside, where the seating is dedicated to an open area as opposed to being scattered clusters of tables, and the food stations flow better in a rectangular shape compared to Fresh’s winding interior.
As a whole, eating at Fresh is a very positive experience. Despite its busy nature and sometimes confusing layout, there’s no denying that the dining hall is home to some delectable foods and allows students to eat the way they want to, not the way they’re forced to.
