The last Student Senate meeting of October had only guest speaker being Susan Matuska from Chartwells.
Chartwells is a dining service management program that could potentially return to UW-La Crosse. Though Compass group is the parent company of Chartwells, the main responsibility of Chartwells is to focus on colleges and universities. Chartwells runs the dining service at UW-Whitewater, Carol University, Edgewood, and Northland College.
“We also run the dining services for the Academy Awards and the Kentucky Derby,” said Susan Matuska.
The motto of Chartwells is Eat. Learn. Live.  Susan Matuska is part of the business development side of Chartwells. They want to strive for strong brand partnerships such as having a partnership with The Pearl. Another is to provide sustainable solutions bringing in local farms and the carbon food print. The third is to really listen to the students and what they want from their dining service. Chartwells wants to cater to the needs of the students. Supporting the local community is a huge part of Chartwells also.
“Having fun with the food is one of the most important things. We like to come up with ideas such as an S’mores Bar or popcorn bar. We want to bring more variety to the campus,” Matuska said.
Many different things that could be possible with Chartwells would be the programs of the dining service, also the way they approach the students. Another difference would be bringing more student involvement within the dining service. One of the ways they want to reach out to the students is Text to Solve. New technological way to have students “complain” about something wrong with their food.
“The response will be received and the manager will come out and talk to the student that complained about the food. We want to ensure the quality of the food,” said Matuska.
Chartwells also has many brands that work with them such as Starbucks, Chipotle, Panera Bread, Red Mango and much more.