Rendezvous opens for dinner, aims to increase staffing

Rendezvous has opened its doors for the dinner hordes this semester, expanding its hours from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. to 7 a.m.-7:30 p.m

“Our goal has always been to have both places open for dinner,” said Director of Culinary Services Mike Kosevich. “We love hearing from students, parents and staff, and their feedback helped lead to us opening Rendezvous for dinner service this spring.”

Staffing shortages, an ongoing issue across town, continue to challenge the dining halls, Kosevich said. Despite the ongoing shortages, Culinary Services is taking steps to improve dining hall services for students across campus.

Last semester, Rendezvous was only open until 2 p.m., meaning that students relying on meal plans had to go to Miller for dinner.

Milo Anderson, a freshman Physics major, was one of those students. Only having Miller open for the evening “made [it] super busy at dinner. It was very annoying. You couldn’t get a table, you couldn’t get food.”

However, Culinary Services kept Miller open later after identifying a need for later dining options.

“Students have told us for quite a while that they wanted the dining halls to stay open later at night to allow for more flexibility and to accommodate more schedules – such as people who need to eat after traditional meal hours due to classes or work,” Kosevich said. “So, to keep Miller open until 8:30 p.m. last fall, we adjusted our employee schedules. Due to a lack of staffing, that meant closing Rendezvous at 2 p.m.”

Freshman Biomedical Engineering student Kuper Banghart, who currently lives in the Quads, was happy with Rendezvous’ schedule change. “I am very excited about it. I found that walking to Miller was super obnoxious, considering I live across campus.”

Jade O’Bannon, an Art History senior at MSU, said, “I don’t use the dining halls, but I feel like it’s necessary that students have the ability to have dinner in both of them, because many dorms don’t have kitchens and they couldn't make dinner even if they wanted to.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Rendezvous was open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. for 7 days a week, while Miller was open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. during weekdays and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on weekends. However, during the pandemic, both dining halls were open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on weekdays and alternated on weekends due to a lack of staffing, Kosevich said.

Culinary Services continues to alternate which dining hall is open on the weekends due to the lack of available staff, Kosevich said.

Anderson, a student worker at the dining halls, said, “I really appreciate that it’s open for dinner. It offers me more flexible hours.”

Culinary Services has also increased student wages to $16-18 per hour. They are hopeful that this will spur an increase in the student labor force, which will translate into more meal offerings and an even better experience for employees, Kosevich said.

“We would like to see [more] students come work for us. Working in the dining halls is a great job for students that doesn’t require them to drive off campus and allows plenty of flexibility to attend class and earn money,” he said.

“There’s a lot less staff — it makes it a little more hectic,” said Anderson, noting the current challenges in the dining halls. “It’s a little bit more stressful to have less people, but I like working with everyone.”

Currently, the schedule change is impacting offered menus at both dining halls.

“Both places have fewer options due to staffing issues,” Kosevich said. “We are hoping to bring more concepts online as we hire more students.”

“It’s not as quality dinner as Miller, which is unfortunate,” Banghart said of the current options at Rendezvous. “However, I would still take lesser quality over more walking.”

However, keeping at least one of the dining halls open later — like Miller was last semester — could benefit students with late schedules.

Jacy Demcisak, a freshman Anthropology major who lives in the Headwaters Complex, said they believe having Rendezvous open for dinner is a good change, but wished it could be open later. “It’s great because I have a class in Wilson Hall at 6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. But because of less staff, I can’t get dinner afterward because my class ends at 7:30, so I have to get there before class,” they said.

Getting to Rendezvous early for dinner sometimes means dinner options aren’t set out yet by the time Demcisak has to be there. “[I appreciate that] they’re trying — and I understand my situation is unique — but it’s still a bit frustrating,” they explained.

The eventual objective of Culinary Services is to keep both dining halls open later, “but we depend very heavily on student staffing for that to happen,” Kosevich said.

Culinary Services does plan to keep Rendezvous open for dinner for the foreseeable future, Kosevich said.

Looking forward, some future goals for Miller and Rendezvous are to open both for lunch and dinner on Saturdays and Sundays and to have the ability to do more special meals for students, Kosevich said. For example, students should be on the lookout for the International Food Bazaar the dining halls are sponsoring on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

To see the current operating hours of the dining halls, head to https://www.montana.edu/culinaryservices/dininghalls.html.

Additionally, if you are interested in seeking employment with Culinary Services, check out https://www.montana.edu/culinaryservices/workwithus.html.