Catering survey feedback – 24 April
As many of you will know, SOAS ran a large-scale food survey with staff, students and visitors during January, to give everyone the chance to help shape the future food offer at SOAS.
We also had engagement stalls over two days in College Buildings and the Paul Webley Wing of Senate House. And eight participants took part in a special cooking class in the main Refectory kitchen.
We are delighted that in total just over a thousand people from all parts of the SOAS community took part. This is one of the largest engagements on a SOAS wide consultation process, and shows the importance which this holds and the interest among all parts of SOAS.
We want now to provide feedback and share results from the survey, which will help to inform what the future of SOAS catering services should look like when we start to deliver these ourselves from September 2018.
Survey findings
There was a wealth of information from the survey – detailed information on the survey and a summary presentation can be found on the catering pages of this website.
Some key headlines from the survey are:
- Value for money and having a range of affordable food options, were cited as the most important aspects of a future food provision, as well as ensuring good quality provision. (4.6 out of 5). Yet these were also the areas of least satisfaction at present (2.5 out of 5)
- When it comes to what type of food outlet is wanted in the future, the top three ‘very important’ responses were: a coffee shop (64% of respondents), more Microwaves (57%), and grab and go hot and cold items (43%)
- When asked for comments on what type of food offer should be provided, many wrote they wanted to see better, healthier food, especially salads. Asian and other international cuisines were also popular mentions
- 38% of respondents have a vegan or vegetarian diet, and want to see better choices for special diets
- Over 60% of respondents said they never used the Paul Webley Wing refectory, and only 8% used it once a week or more.
- The specialist coffee shop in PWW had the highest level of satisfaction from all the SOAS outlets, with an average score of 3.84 out of 5.
- Respondents put a high value (4.6 out of 5) on having a clean environment and having available seating (4.4 out of 5), yet satisfaction in these areas was again low (3.3 out of 5)
- Minimal packaging and no food waste were top areas of importance, with ensuring a range of healthy options right behind.
These findings have been shared with the catering teams working at SOAS, and a special catering feedback session for stakeholders was held earlier in February with representatives from across SOAS. This, along with a report from Myles Bremner, has been discussed by the Self Delivery Project Board.
Next steps
This comprehensive feedback will help to shape the future food offer at SOAS. Plans are being drawn up to put the right food offer in place from September, so that we can provide better, more affordable food. And at the same time meet needs for more grab and go, healthier food, and more vegetarian and vegan options.
We will be sharing ideas and options for future offer next month, with a poster exhibition of Thursday 10th May in the Paul Webley Wing. This exhibition will explain more about our ideas and plans, all based on your feedback.
We also want to hear your ideas on the look and feel of our new in-house food offer. So do please come along and help make sure our future plans are truly representative of the whole SOAS community.
We will also send round this information to staff and students with this information to seek views and ideas.
For any further information, please contact Myles Bremner on mb127@soas.ac.uk