Zoe Oppenheimer | Student Life

Students wait in line in the Danforth University Center (DUC) at the WashU Wok.

Some students have reported greater difficulty finding food this semester, citing fewer dining options and food shortages at certain locations.

These shortages come as the University transitions to in-person dining for the fall after a year of GrubHub mobile ordering and exclusively to-go containers.

Nationwide, the food industry is struggling with broader supply chain issues, largely due to interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Associate Director of Dining Operations Andrew Watling said this could account for the difficulties people are experiencing in the dining halls.

“There are definitely supply chain issues,” Watling said. “We’re getting daily lists of products that are either short or we’re running out of, because we ordered 100 of them and we only got 20 of them delivered. It’s a little hard to trace back why some of these things are happening, but, for example, Tyson chicken was having shortages because they didn’t have enough staff working in their plants, and it caused a ripple effect that eventually reached the people buying their products, like us.”

For sophomore Anna Martinez-Yang, these supply chain issues have tangibly affected her eating habits.

“Sometimes, I have classes that finish around 5:30, and Ciao Down runs out of pasta, or a specific type of pasta that I can eat,” said Martinez-Yang, a resident of the South 40 who often relies on Bear’s Den for dinner.

Junior Jada Grant said she has had a similar experience with campus dining this semester.

“Around dinnertime, at least one station in BD is closed and the others tend to run out of food quickly,” Grant said.

These shortages have particularly impacted students with dietary restrictions.

Ellie Perlmutter, a freshman who cannot eat wheat, dairy or corn, expressed her disappointment in the lack of options she encountered upon coming to the University.

“I kind of just vary between a couple things every week that I can eat. I’m usually stuck between, like, four options.” Perlmutter said. “It’s definitely disappointing. You realize how much comfort there is in food that it’s harder to get if you have a lot of dietary restrictions in a new place.”

Grant, who is allergic to peanuts and hazelnuts, also reported a decrease in the number of dining options compatible with her dietary restrictions.

“I’ve seen it just decrease over the years, and now it’s almost like there’s only five things that I can and will eat on campus,” Grant said. “It just makes it harder to be a healthy college student and maintain my mental and physical health when everything else is not that great right now.”

“Usually, everything’s kind of gone except for Grizzly Grill,” Martinez-Yang, who is a vegetarian, said. “I could get the Beyond Burger, but I can’t get it every day.”

Despite these reports, Watling said the specialized dietary stations “seem to have been slightly more stabilized as far as supply chain.” He does, however, recognize that limited menu options and reduced hours related to staffing issues may make it more difficult for students with dietary restrictions to find alternatives outside of specialized menus.

“I recognize that students who are relying on the Kosher dining program or on the allergen friendly program have less changes that can be made, and it’s a little harder to source alternate products for some of those areas,” Watling said.

A lack of specific information from students, however, has made the problem difficult for Dining Services to address.

“We have heard about it, but we haven’t been able to get a lot of specifics from any students,” Watling said. “I’ve heard some general, ‘we’re running out of food,’ but I don’t necessarily know where they’re running out of food or what they’re really looking for. So we are aware of it, but it’s been challenging to address with the information that we have available.”

“We’re trying to find out if it’s a recurring problem or if it’s an isolated event, or to find out the problem so we can really address it and prevent it from happening,” Assistant Director for Nutrition & Dietary Wellness Rebecca Miller said.

Miller recently met with a student who said the Top 8 Allergy Friendly station had run out of certain menu items. “For this one example, it’s one day at eight o’clock, and I just learned that they are out of protein for the meal. So I asked if there were other similar situations like that, and they weren’t able to give me more information because they weren’t there at that time on the previous day,” said Miller. “It’s hard to know if it’s a continual problem or if it’s an isolated event.”

Some students have not noticed any food shortages on campus, further demonstrating the difficulty of defining and solving the problem.

“Honestly, I haven’t noticed much of a difference in terms of shortages of food with WashU specifically,” Junior Amanda Thompson said. “Maybe other people have been noticing it, but I really haven’t.”

While the supply chain shortages are out of their control, the Dining Services team is currently working to address the issue in the ways they can, including finding extra storage space to stock up on items that might be an issue and working with alternative suppliers.

“This is something that we’re very aware of and are trying to make sure that we’re proactively addressing the concerns,” Watling said. “Our goal is to make sure that whatever supplier issues we have impact our community as little as possible.”

In the meantime, both Watling and Miller encourage any students who are struggling to find food to reach out to Dining Services directly so they can better understand the issue.