Haley DiFruscio curated this story by Joel H. Ringley, which The Appalachian published May 1, 1990.
To many students, eating school cafeteria food is more an act of consumption than regular eating. However, students should know how much “effort” goes into preparing thousands of meals every day. According to Gold Room Supervisor Diane Weaver, the Gold Room staff cooks over 175 steaks daily. Over 8,000 items including dishes, pots and pans have to be washed every day. Weaver said the most requested items at the student union dining facility are roast beef and spaghetti.
“All together, I’d say roughly 1,000 to 1,100 people eat here every day,” Weaver said.
Welborn Hall, home to the main cafeteria on campus, opens at 7 a.m. to serve breakfast to over 1,000 students.
Paul Debs, the cafeteria’s assistant director, said the cafeteria usually goes through “about five cases of eggs with every breakfast.” Each case contains 30 dozen eggs, so 1800 are scrambled or fried every morning.
Eggs aren’t the only food product used in mass quantity at Welborn. Sixteen give-gallon containers of milk are emptied every morning of business.
One of the cafeteria’s most popular foods during lunch and dinner hours is the homemade pizza which is served every Thursday. Debs commented that the pies are one of the most sought after items the cafeteria offers. “We go through 180 six-inch pizzas in a three hour period,” Debs said.
The Food Court has quickly become the most popular spot for many students to eat their meals. Director of ASU Food Services Ron Dubberly estimated that between 5,000 and 5,500 people eat there daily, though the number of diners drops between 1,000 to 2,500 on the weekend.
The Food Court is known by many students on campus as the “Chicken Court,” and for good reason. Chicken tenders are the most popular food item the court supplies. Dubberly said: “We use in excess of 100 cases of tenders every week, sometimes 150 cases.” Each case of tenders weighs about 10 pounds, so as a result, students consume 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of chicken tenders weekly.
French fry fans abound at the Food Court. Dubberly said 100 cases of potatoes are consumed weekly. Since each case weighs 30 pounds, students are eating over 1.5 tons of french fries every week.
Weaver said one of the more popular items sold at the shop are Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies. “We sell over 700 of those cookies every day, that is, if we can make that many,” Weaver said. Other items that are in constant demand are the banana bread, of which around 150 pieces are sold daily, and milk shakes, of which 200 shakes are made every day.
The Sweet Shop goes through 100 three-gallon containers of ice cream a week. Doughnuts are also another hot item. Weaver said the sweet shop sells 300 doughnuts every day, which come from ASU’s own bake shop which does to work after midnight.
Such figures as the ones mentioned go to prove that cooking for thousands makes quantity as much a priority as quality.
