When the large group of hungry students still missing their mom’s cooking returned from winter break and shuffled into Schroeder for another semester of gastric monotony, they were surprised to see something very different on the menu.
No longer does Schroeder feature a fully Italian spread, instead it now consists of three distinct sections. The far left, the former chicken parmesan station, is American cuisine. The far right, formerly the made-to-order pasta bar, is international cuisine. Schroeder’s legendary chicken parmesan now has a home in the middle of the cafeteria.
“That first day coming back and seeing students come to the chicken parm line and see that is wasn’t chicken parm, they had this look on their face,” Rachel Taylor, Sodexo student worker and a freshman in the College of Business Administration, said. “When we explained what the change was, most of the people seemed to really like it.”
In fact, the reaction from students is overwhelmingly positive.
“I think it’s good, and it’s nice to change it up,” Kyle Beyers, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said, while enjoying Schroeder’s new stir fry. “Especially, being on the meal exchange for three semesters, I like having it completely different. It also helps that it’s actually good food.”
Ming-Hung Hsieh, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, said she doesn’t miss the old cuisine and enjoys the pork loin. She is impressed by Schroeder’s new options.
“My first reaction was, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a rice bowl and BBQ,'” Hsieh said. “Overall, I’m a big fan.”
The reasoning for the change isn’t clear, but Marquette’s contract with Sodexo is expiring at the end of the semester so this change could be a last effort to impress the University with the quality and variety of their food.
“I think it’s to attract more customers,” Taylor said. “Other dorms might have more people coming in and out, but with more food varieties, Schroeder can get more regulars.”
The variety has been an improvement to Schroeder’s Sodexo employees as well.
“[The employees] took pride in going with this change,” Taylor said. “They look forward to providing it to the students.”
Sodexo will continue to change and innovate as the semester goes on with Chicago, Boston, LA and Texas all in the cuisine plans to replace Memphis. However, some students will just continue to order the chicken parmesan and call it a day, like Gloria Johnson, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences.
“They still have the chikky chikky parm parm, so it’s all good,” Johnson said.
