The third meeting of the Student Cafeteria Management Committee was held at the Central Library of Kyung Hee University (KHU) Global Campus on August 22, 2024. The committee, which consists of 11 members, includes representatives from the General Affairs Team (GAT), the General Student Association: the Running, KHU graduate schools, KHU faculty , all from the Global Campus, and employees from Riaeni La Matinee. Riaeni La Matinee is the company in charge of providing meals at the student cafeterias on the campus.

 

The committee discussed four key issues in the meeting: the hygiene issue that recently occurred in the Student Center’s cafeteria, strategies to improve meal quality, a proposal from the Running to operate a student-led monitoring team, and the GAT's financial plan to enhance the cafeteria environment.

Foreign Substance Found in the Meal Again

On August 20, 2024, a cable tie was found in the kimchi served at the Student Center’s cafeteria while a student was having lunch. According to a report from Riaeni La Matinee, the cable tie matched the type used to package the kimchi brand they served. As a result, it was suspected that the issue might have occurred during meal preparation.

Kwak Chung-gon, the current manager of Riaeni La Matinee, suggested a new perspective that the cable tie may have entered the kimchi during the packing process at the factory. He explained, “We used five packs of kimchi that day, and we found all five cable ties from each pack in the trash bin.”

Despite Riaeni La Matinee’s explanation, the lack of concrete evidence caused backlash. Kwak admitted that they no longer have the five cable ties and had not taken photos of them. Jung Seung-hwan, the vice president of the GAT, criticized Riaeni La Matinee for not preserving the physical evidence. Park Byung-jun, a representative of the Running, also expressed his disappointment over the lack of proof.

To prevent such incidents in the future, the GAT requested Kwak to photograph any packaging waste generated during meal preparation and regularly report it. Moreover, Riaeni La Matinee was asked to issue a public apology for the incident. Kwak agreed to these requests and subsequently placed an apology post at the cafeteria entrance.

Riaeni La Matinee’s Plan for Improving Dining Experience

Cho Soo-bin, Riaeni La Matinee’s dietitian for the Student Center’s cafeteria, presented the company’s plan to improve meal quality. She explained that they will increase the variety of food options and host multiple special events to prevent students from feeling that the menu is repetitive. Examples of events include Taste the World, which will provide meals from different countries, and Brand Day, where well-known brands like Myungrang Hotdogs and Sinjeon Tteokbokki will be offered.

Cho shared the planned menus with the participants, and they discussed potential improvements. The GAT suggested Cho take holidays and expected attendance into account to maximize effectiveness. Cho acknowledged the feedback and agreed to consider it in future planning. 

Furthermore, to enhance student satisfaction, Cho mentioned that they plan to improve the cafeteria environment and continue training staff to prevent further occurrence of foreign substances. The GAT added that some dissatisfaction may have resulted from long waiting times and recommended Cho to deal with them.

The GAT and the Running's Cafeteria Improvement Plan

The GAT presented their plan to invest in improving the cafeteria's environment. They reported an investment of approximately 50 million won to replace items such as machinery, equipment, chairs, and tables. Jung explained that the decision for these upgrades stemmed from his visits to other universities for comparison.

The Running announced that they will continue operating the student monitoring team as they did in the last semester. As a result, the team members were recruited in August, and activities began on September 2. As in the previous semester, 20 students were selected, with two groups of 10 tasked with investigating overall user satisfaction at the cafeterias on the global campus until November 29.

 

Conclusion 

Although participants agreed on the future improvements, the meeting did not meet the expectations of some. A representative of the GAT commented, “I believed that the meeting would discuss the cafeteria's needs?such as deciding which items to purchase and how much funding to allocate. Unfortunately, due to the reoccurrence of issues with foreign substances, we were unable to fully explore these topics.

 

Riaeni La Matinee has signed contracts with the GAT and the 2nd Dormitory to provide meals at the Student Center and the dormitory cafeteria, respectively. Whether Riaeni La Matinee will continue to provide meals in the Student Center will be determined this November. On the other hand contract extension with the GAT will be decided by the results of the user satisfaction survey and the committee’s evaluation, both scheduled for October. The details of the evaluation, including the survey duration and criteria, will be discussed in the next meeting. The efforts during the remaining year will be crucial in determining whether the Riaeni La Matinee can remain at the KHU.