Ryan Buchholdt is vice chancellor of administrative services at UAA. Photo by Justin Cox.
It’s no secret that UAA is lacking in on-campus food options. In an informal online poll conducted by The Northern Light, 66% of respondents reported that they were not satisfied with the options for food on campus, and several people described west campus as a “food desert.”
To help answer some of these questions and discuss the broader plan regarding food at UAA, The Northern Light spoke with Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services Ryan Buchholdt. In addition to overseeing campus and dining services, Buchholdt oversees other campus services, including the University Police Department, General Support Services and information and technology.
In the conversation with Buchholdt, one point was made clear: UAA is aware that students want more food options on campus.
Buchholdt said that decisions regarding the future of food options are being driven by what he is hearing from people about what they want to see on campus.
He said that there has been a lot of discussion from various organizations regarding food availability on campus, such as Senate Faculty and USUAA, and that administrators in the Chancellor’s cabinet have been supportive of efforts and ideas to improve the situation.
Wider food options should be a way to draw students and faculty alike onto campus, said Buchholdt. He said that an impediment to faculty returning to campus is the lack of food options, and that faculty want a place where they can meet with students and staff in a more informal setting.
Though UAA offers nearly half of all classes online, even students taking exclusively online classes are still looking for reasons to be on campus and connect with the UAA community, he said.
Buchholdt recognized the importance of food to a vibrant campus.
“[For] human society, food is the thing that brings people together for social events.”
Buchholdt also agreed with student complaints that west campus is a “food desert.”
He said that there are plans to reopen food service in Cuddy Hall, though not in the capacity that it was operating at before. He said that they intend to reopen the coffee shop in Cuddy and provide smaller-scale food preparation options. Buchholdt said that with new technologies available, there could be ways to provide food for students without requiring a “more formal commercial kitchen.”
One of the vice chancellor’s goals is to bring food to UAA that reflects the diversity of the campus and the Anchorage community.
“I think about the diversity of not only the campus, but the Anchorage area, and the opportunities we have to … in many ways not necessarily focus the menu, but offer menu options that are ethnically driven,” said Buchholdt.
He said that leaning into and celebrating diverse foods is an important part of “trying to build an institution that's reflective of the communities that we serve.”
Religious dietary restrictions will also be taken into account as they work to find new food options on campus, said Buchholdt.
Though becoming a place with more diverse food options requires some willingness to experiment and run food services that might not break even when starting out.
One problem they face, Buchholdt said, is the fear people have of the unknown.
“We can roll all these things out and what if no one shows up?”
He said that over the past few months, his team has been rethinking their mentality around creating new food options, reflecting on the reality of reopening in the wake of the pandemic.
“We [took a step back to] have this acknowledgement, that in many ways, any new business, unless you are one of the very lucky few, you lose money in the first few years … So, if you start by putting ourselves in the start-up mentality … we know we’re going to lose money in the first year or two.”
“That’s okay. As long as … we set some benchmarks, we promote it and we really start to see … that line of sight to a minimum [of] breaking even for some operations,” said Buchholdt.
Buchholdt said that they have been working with UAA’s food services partner NMS to figure out their comfort level with running in the red or at break even, for a time at least. NMS is contracted to be in charge of nearly all food services on campus.
“There is no institutional funding that goes into the dining operation. That’s all meant to generate its own revenue, as well as provide a little bit of net profit for our private sector partners at NMS.”
There’s also an added value to the campus of more dining locations because they give people an opportunity to meet, run into each other, and socialize, he said.
“When it comes to the coffee shops on campus … there's a case to be made … even if it's just barely breaking even, or just hitting that break even point, that's probably actually a good measure because of the added benefits the institution gets.”
NMS has been actively leaning into solving some of these problems, such as increasing diversity and variety, he said. And that they are enthusiastic about helping to provide quality services to students.
“It’s pretty fun having partners like that.”
Buchholdt said that coming back from the pandemic has given them the opportunity to rethink food in ways that were not possible prior to the pandemic.
An idea that Buchholdt said seems popular is having departments “sponsor” a day at restaurants like the Varsity Grill in the Alaska Airlines Center. But, he said, that requires participation from people in those organizations.
“We need you all to show up, we need you all to patronize the services.”
Buchholdt said that right now UAA and NMS are taking things slow as they try to figure out what is achievable for UAA.
“I think we realized it’s hard to take away once you put something out,” said Buchholdt, “Whereas… if we start to see some demand, start to try some of these menu options and some of these locations, and see, okay, is this working? Is this what students and faculty are wanting? And make adjustments as needed.”
An important part of the future of food will be to keep organizations in the loop to make decisions, he said.
“Let’s make sure we’re talking to USUAA, let’s make sure we’re talking with Faculty Senate and Staff Council. Really understanding … what does the community of … the Anchorage campus here feel is needed?”
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