Ag Café Named Nation’s Best University Dining Center
The American Institute for University Dining (AIUD) has named Ag Café of Texas A&M “The Nation’s Best University Dining Center.” Although this accolade comes as a surprise to many, Chartwells officials claim they knew Ag Café was destined for public recognition sooner or later. Last year’s winner, the University of Colorado’s Bison Bistro, had claimed the award for eight years running but now ranks number two behind Aggieland’s crown jewel of West Campus.
The criteria for AIUD’s annual award is based off of four categories: customer satisfaction, restaurant variety, cleanliness, and operation efficiency. Barbara Warfield of the AIUD provided an explanation. “On conducting our nation-wide survey, we found that Texas A&M’s Ag Café utilized opportunities that other on-campus dining facilities miss,” said Warfield. “During lunch hour, students want to mingle with each other. Ag Café does an extraordinary job of creating long lines to both pay for and receive food. This design allows students to take a break from their fast-paced lives and catch up on the previous night’s lacrosse match or whatever southern college students like to discuss.”
Further comments highlight the University’s strategy in making Ag Café the only real dining option for the students on West Campus. “Ag Café is the cultural hub of West Campus,” said Warfield. “Business, biology, and agriculture majors don’t want to be distracted with numerous options for lunch…they just want one.” Ag Café is seen as West Campus’ MSC; it is where all of the West Campus majors intermingle and express ideas. Having multiple West Campus eating establishments would only take away from that flair.
One other distinguishing variable of Ag Café is its love for Chick-fil-a. “Through extensive research, we found that students operate most effectively on a routine, disciplined Chick-fil-a diet,” said Chartwells’ West Campus Dining Director, Joe Polynesian. Further confirming this practice, a recent survey was conducted by Chartwells and found that West Campus students consumed over eight Ag Café Chick-fil-a meals a week.
“In designing Ag Café, we included a Which Wich that takes over an hour, on average, to get your sandwich, as well as a greasy burger eatery that we knew students would reject. With this strategy, students are left with no other options than to eat Chick-fil-a for every meal on West Campus,” said Polynesian.
Chartwells is proud of all of the positive reviews it has received from students. Amongst all of the new developments surrounding other parts of campus, West Campus students would hate to see new dining options compete against Ag Café. The over abundance of nuggets, waffle fries, and long lines are a staple and tradition of the life of a student on the wrong side of the tracks.
—Good Bullogna
Her ascent to the highest social class began in first grade, when she consistently brought the coolest lunch—Lunchables—to school each day, toting them in her Vera Bradley lunchbox. Never mind the fact that she only had Lunchables because her parents were too busy working high-stress careers to make her anything else, and she only had a Vera Bradley lunchbox because her parents bought her name-brand items to distract from their lack of engagement in her everyday life; Good Bullonga turned out just fine, if you ignore her crippling abandonment issues.