Merrill Food Service Advisor (FSA)
Keep an eye out for the Crown/Merrill Food Service Advisor (FSA), Sylvie Boenke-Bowden (sboenkeb[AT]ucsc.edu), when you're in the Crown Dining Hall. Sylvie conducts surveys on food quality and satisfaction. She can answer your questions and help relay your feedback to the dining hall staff and management. If you can't find Sylvie, you can always fill out a comment card, located by the ice cream.
Banana Joe's Cafe and other retail dining services on campus also have an FSA. If you have comments or feedback about service, hours or menu options please let Rosa Arce (rarce[AT]ucsc.edu) know. Rosa also conducts surveys about your retail dining experience.
Get Cooking at Crown
The Crown/Merrill Cooking Club sponsors classes in the Dining Hall throughout the year. Last year, students made treats ranging from pumpkin bread and baklava to cranberry sauce and cheese! For more info, email your Crown Food Service Advisor.
The Kitchen in Gauss house is available on a limited basis for your personal use. It is stocked with cookware and utensils. Check out a key from the Crown Residential Education Office - 2 hour maximum.
The Lionel Cantu GLBTI Resource Center located near KZSC between Crown and Merrill also has a kitchen that students can use. They'd be happy to have you stop by.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1) Q: I have the 5-Day Meal Plan, which isn't working out for me. How can I upgrade to the 7-Day Meal Plan?
A: You can upgrade your meal plan anytime on the dining website: http://dining.ucsc.edu. Go to "meal plan details", then to "changing your current meal plan", where you can upgrade at anytime. You can change to a lower meal plan here as well, but there are specific filing dates to do so each quarter.
2) Q: Would it be possible to serve breakfast past 10:30 on weekdays?
A: We can’t serve breakfast any later than 10:30 on weekdays (it’s already been moved back from 10:00 am last year), because many students have an early breakfast and don’t want to come back for lunch to the same food. We are thinking about making a breakfast sandwich or something like it that can be served all day. If anyone thinks this is a great idea then drop me an email or tell me the next time you see me in the dining hall!
3) Sometimes the dinner being made by the student worker has meat in it or something else I can’t eat. Could we have other versions of the dish served as well?
A: We always try to have a vegetarian or vegan option out at all times- if the student worker behind the line is not too busy, you can always ask them to make you some of the dinner without specific of the ingredients. Remember, if you ever need anything, it will never hurt to ask for it! :)
4) Q: There was a dish served that I really, really liked. Could you serve it again?
The menu rotates throughout all the dining halls on a weekly basis. So, if there’s a meal or soup or muffin you like, fear not! It’ll be around again! You can also look on the dining services website at http://housing.ucsc.edu/dining/menus.html to see that week’s menus for all the dining halls, and follow your favorite foods around campus!
5) Q: I love the Smoothie bar! But the blenders are always dirty! Can I ask on of the workers to clean it?
A: Since the smoothie machines get dirty so many times a day, we’re trying to encourage students to wash them before/after their use. Students are allowed to use the sink on the right side behind the line to rinse out the blenders and lids.
6) Q: Q: I sent in an application to the dining hall, but I haven’t heard anything back. Did they get my application?
A: We receive a large amount of on-line applications. But, we keep them on file, since we are always hiring new workers as our needs change. We therefore don’t send out letters if an applicant hasn’t been hired. If you’d really like to get a boost on our list, please feel free to come in during normal hours and talk to one of our managers.
Ask the Crown FSA a question or leave a comment:
