Tufts Community Union Senate has implemented a survey form to allow students to rate meals and provide feedback in both the Fresh at Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Centers. The program is running from Jan. 26 to Feb. 6 and aims to increase student input in dining experiences.
There are four metrics to the survey: satisfaction, freshness, temperature and flavor of the dish. In addition, students can comment on whether the dish matched their expectations based on the recipe, if they finished the dish and share any additional feedback with the dining staff at the end of the survey.
The initiative is headed by Class of 2029 Senator Hailey Renick in collaboration with Tufts Dining.
“The feedback form will be on table tents with QR codes and information about it on every table in both dining centers,” Renick said. “When students are sitting eating their meals, they’ll be able to stop, scan the QR code and rate their meal.”
Renick added that students can issue a rating on a five-point scale in the survey.
Amy Hamilton, the manager of strategic communication and marketing for Tufts Dining, explained in a statement to the Daily that Tufts Dining has been trying to increase the input students have on their dining experience.
“Last fall, Tufts Dining expanded student involvement by working with the Tufts Dining Student Engagement Team, who visited dining locations … and shared candid observations on food quality, cleanliness, and overall experience,” Hamilton wrote.
Hamilton noted that “Tufts Dining provided limited input on question wording to help ensure clarity, but the survey itself was student‑generated.”
The Senate has promoted the program with posters around campus and social media posts, allowing students to access the form outside the dining halls. Class of 2029 Senator and Outreach Committee member Michael Williamson also collaborated with Renick on a promotional video for the Senate’s Instagram.
Williamson tabled in Dewick, speaking with students individually about their dining experiences. He felt the survey had been positively received by the student body due to its brevity and students’ willingness to share critical views on dining hall food.
“I ended up going table to table talking to people about the project … hearing that Tufts students did not have the best perception of dining hall meals,” Williamson said. “People were relatively willing to fill out the survey. The selling point is really how short it is and the fact that this project can only help the student body.”
Filling out the survey at least three times in a week will constitute a raffle entry for a JBL speaker.
This project is intended to build on Tufts Dining’s existing feedback mechanisms. Hamilton cited “several channels for students to share feedback,” including comment cards and QR codes in dining locations and online. Responses are “reviewed regularly and shared with the management team,” Hamilton wrote.
Tufts Dining currently tracks the amount of each dish students are taking; however, Renick explained how the survey provides more honest feedback.
“Just because it looked good doesn’t mean it was actually good,” Renick said. “By receiving this kind of feedback… [Tufts Dining] is able to see, not only did students pull it, but did they actually like what they were being served?”
After the survey closes, Tufts Dining’s data analytics intern, John Neveu, will compile the responses. The results will be shared directly to Tufts Dining.
“We’re going to present the data of what students are liking, what they’re wanting to see more of and what they’re wanting to see less of,” Renick said.
Renick expects the survey to lead to changes in the dining halls to benefit and create an overall more pleasant dining experience for all students. She added that Tufts Dining will be able to adjust recipes based on the feedback.
The survey is currently a pilot run, but Renick hopes it can later be institutionalized by Tufts Dining as a permanent feedback system.
“We hope that in the future, it’ll be something that Dining itself, or [the] Senate in collaboration with them, can continue to do at a more frequent rate and in different centers,” Renick said.
Renick hopes the survey will provide a way for students to easily be able to voice their opinions on dining.
“I just hope to encourage students to fill it out as many times as they can,” Renick said. “Now’s the time to share their opinions to be able to institutionalize a system where Dining will frequently ask directly for student opinions.”
