University catering

Mr. Dubiel, how important is a good canteen and cafeteria for studying?
I'd say it's essential, because we all know that "an army marches on its stomach". An empty stomach doesn't like to study either. The canteens - as their absence during the pandemic made abundantly clear - are also social places of communication. More networks are certainly formed in the canteen or cafeteria than in the lecture hall. The first students enter the fourth semester without ever having been to the canteen. That absolutely has to change again. The canteen and the cafeteria are central facilities for a lively campus. And who wants to study on an extinct campus?

How did the Studierendenwerk deal with Corona?
For us, Corona was and is a "terrible project" whose quick end we have been hoping for for two years. Unfortunately, this hope has been disappointed again and again for just as long. Adhering to constantly changing Corona guidelines has of course demanded enormous resources from our already stretched team in the administration. But at the end of the day, we had no choice here and always complied with the legal requirements. And when it became too uneconomical, we closed our facilities. I am happy about the great understanding and frustration tolerance of both our guests and my staff. We made a virtue of necessity during the pandemic and used the times of lock-down or to-go supply to sharpen our own profile and improve our infrastructure. We have rebuilt two cafeterias and are in the middle of construction work for the new canteens in Landau and in Ludwigshafen. So we are planning and working for a future that even we don't really know: How many students will return to campus in the long term? Will online teaching become a strong factor? Which catering services do we need to change? After much thought, however, we told ourselves: food will always be served - we are not yet the canteen of a distance learning university! I have the certainty that our commitment will pay off. But I am just as sure that we will need a lot of perseverance.

What was easy last year, what was hard?
Nothing was easy. Unprecedented restrictions also made our project management extremely difficult. Questions of meaning also came into play: Do we want to do it this way? Will it be worth it in the future? Will we be able to find the staff we had to let go during the pandemics? Is it still worth it? By far the greatest difficulty was the issue of personnel, which we also communicated to our ministry when it came to renewing the contracts of long-serving staff. We constantly asked ourselves: What can we expect of our staff? Who still has a secure job and who does not? Fishing in the dark when it comes to personnel planning is one thing, but having to decide the professional fate of colleagues who have often been with us for many years is quite another. So we had to make forecasts for something that no one can predict. You need a tolerance for a high margin of error: everything could have turned out differently.

And, retrospectively, did you get everything right?
We got everything right. Even if a few decisions were really tough. In the end - as of today - the dice were cast in our favour. But, with this "gambling mentality" it was hard to deal with: I usually plan very carefully. But in 2021 it was more like at the casino table. I find that difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, we were also right about the shortage of skilled workers: the shortage of skilled workers we predicted after Corona absolutely happened. It would have been nice to be able to save more staff through the crisis with the Ministry's backing. But the ministry's maxim was: act economically as a student union. In this case, that meant no social plan or understanding for the situation of the staff. In retrospect, it wasn't economical either, because now some of the canteens are closed because we can't find any more catering staff on the empty labour market. What really went badly - forgive me - were the terribly worded Corona regulations, which sometimes gave the impression that they deliberately left those affected some leeway. Unambiguous and non-contradictory rules would definitely have been better for our guests and for us. If you make regulations, you should also communicate the implementation in the industry in such a way that everyone in the industry can understand it. We have met quite often to exegete the pandemic guidelines with varying results.

The time after the pandemic - what do you think about it?
I think that digitalisation and online teaching will be felt by us when all the regulations are lifted. But I don't think it will be on a relevant scale in terms of our service. We could not imagine a big drop in the number of meals at the end of 2021. Delicious food on an attractive, networked campus will definitely have a future. And because of 10-20 per cent online teaching, you don't do your Bachelor's or Master's from the parental wifi cloud in your teenage room. I'm quite sure of that.

Where does the student union stand well?
At least we have managed to keep our permanent staff, which at times was not a given. And we were only able to do that because we always sent a signal to our colleagues by increasing the short-time allowance to 100%: Stay loyal to us, things are getting better again. Otherwise the staffing gap would be much bigger today. It is also good that the reconstructions in Landau and Ludwigshafen are progressing. In 2023, the first of the two canteens - the Ludwigshafen canteen - will most likely be able to go into operation. That will be a real quantum leap for us in Ludwigshafen. The Landau canteen will probably not be closer to completion until 2024 because of the complex remediation of contaminated materials.

Where does it stand badly?
The dependence on the state for our renovations and new buildings is huge and the process is unfortunately very tough. The delay in the long-planned construction work in Landau before the pandemic hit us hard. It would have been better if the infrastructure had been ready before the pandemic. Dragging out the long-needed investment in our canteen in Landau for over 10 years was very damaging to us. We urgently need to find ways to speed up the approval process and the implementation of construction work and the awarding of public contracts. The responsible authorities must react much faster and work in a better coordinated way.

Where does the most urgent need to be improved?
Personnel, personnel, personnel. We are in the midst of an acute shortage of support staff, which we have already pointed out several times. The quality of the support staff who present themselves at our job interviews is much lower than before the pandemic. Without these assistants, however, our canteens will remain closed. First the small locations, like our canteen in Landau's Bürgerstrasse for the entire year, then eventually the large locations as well. Politically and in terms of collective bargaining, everything must be done so that the catering industry can recover from the pandemic tsunami. I am sure - and this is also proven by the figures of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants - that 20 percent of the employees in the catering industry have left the industry. It will be a medium- to long-term task to reverse this trend. If it continues like this, the next closures are only a matter of time. Of course, it will always be the small locations that will be hit first.

If I had a magic wand, what would you wish for your department?
More staff as well as closer coordination between the partners in the university environment at all levels. Studierendenwerk must become a constant partner when university developments are discussed. As a rule, however, we are usually the very last to know.

How systemically relevant are canteens and cafeterias, and does their appreciation do justice to this relevance?
We are not just a place to get hot food quickly and cheaply. To paraphrase Sitting Bull: only when the last canteen has closed, only when the last coffee has been drunk, only when the last chocolate bar has crossed the counter, will you realise that kebabs or McDonalds every day are no solution either. With prices of 6 euros and more for a kebab, that' s not the case anyway. I'll repeat myself: from an intellectual and social point of view, canteens and cafeterias are the melting pot where a university offers its most important seminar: Social life, networking, interaction. It has always been said that the kitchen is the soul of the house. This also applies to our universities. So canteens are absolutely system-relevant in the university system. Unless you study at the distance university. A small example: our idea to use artificial intelligence in our merchandise management system was born in the canteen and is being implemented very successfully - not only for our student union, by the way.

What did the food figures for 2021 say?
Oh dear, the worst issue at the end! Actually, the meal figures said: Close and keep it closed!
But then the months we've been open since September 2021 have exceeded our own expectations. However, the expectations were quite low and they were light years away from our normal numbers. But despite the restrictions, customers came to us. That certainly speaks in our favour. Also in terms of the solidarity of our guests. That gives us hope. We have not been forgotten. Now we have to work on getting more guests to remember us...

What is your prediction for the future? What will the campus catering of tomorrow look like?
I would take the catering of tomorrow under the heading: Less eats more. Customer numbers will probably decrease somewhat. After all, the number of students dropped significantly during the pandemic. That could already become a trend with the increased online teaching. Our range of services could be reduced somewhat, but the quality could increase significantly. We might offer less variety, but implement more craftsmanship in our recipes. For me, this is also a strategy - should the numbers actually decrease somewhat in the long term: making more sustainability possible by limiting oneself to fewer offerings. So even more regional, even more seasonal, even higher-quality cuisine. Tasting even more craftsmanship and knowing where the ingredients come from. I am really optimistic and we are taking on the challenge.