New cafeteria manager brings fresh ideas
The menu at the campus’s very own cafeteria will receive a facelift thanks to the new general manager, Tyler Nguyen.
A graduate of Cal State University Monterey Bay with a degree in business administration, Nguyen hopes to improve the offerings currently available in Saddleback College’s cafeteria as well as create an improved presentation within the facility.
Nguyen received the offer to work as general manager from his aunt, Becky Tran, who serves as the kitchen manager of the cafeteria.
Under Nguyen’s guidance, the menu offerings at the cafeteria will have more nutritious meals for students who are interested in maintaining a balanced diet.
“We’re aiming for healthier choices for students as well as people who are health conscious,” said Nguyen.
Among the healthier choices, the salad bar will have a different variety of salads for students to select from, but the dressings will have no cream or oil. Romaine lettuce will be replacing the salads that contain iceberg lettuce for more of a nutritional content as well as taste. The dinner menu will also have selections such as grilled chicken, grilled beef, steamed vegetables, and rice as part of a combo.
In addition, due to the increasing prices of food, Nguyen is trying to combat the high prices by including a diverse selection of foods for students to choose from. Among the foods, Nguyen hopes to bring in foods from his heritage such as Vietnamese sandwiches and spring rolls.
However, with these foods, there are issues in regards to the storage as well as the customer reception. For one, Nguyen said that foods such as the spring rolls have a short shelf life and they must be thrown out within two hours. If not purchased within that window of time, then the rolls would become inconsumable.
Tran said she has tried selling Vietnamese-style sandwiches in the cafeteria, but there were issues in regards to the bread.
“Many of the students are not used to eating a crunchy baguette on a sandwich and most of the students who buy them are people of Asian descent,” Tran said.
As for the overall presentation of the cafeteria, the signs will be renovated to have a fresh appearance in order to make the foods more appealing for students to pick out. The cleanliness of the cafeteria will also be under a much stricter rule so that students will feel comfortable dining there.