It’s time to chow down on a new website. Parkhurst and Allegheny’s Dining Committee published a new website on Oct. 13, featuring a wide variety of aspects related to food service at the college.

“It’s a good consolidation of information,” said Lyra Lindsay, ’27, who is a member of the committee. “It features all of the dining info, the menu and hours.”

The Dining Committee, which consists of Allegheny Student Government cabinet members and Parkhurst employees, is tasked with working with dining services to make necessary changes and improvements for students on meal plans.

“We bridge the gap between upper executive workers and the student body requests like dining changes,” said Iris Styers, ’26, who is also a member of the committee.

When first clicking on the new website, users are shown six different categories, such as “Food & Nutrition,” “Meal Plans,” “Events” and “Additional Services.” One of the categories is the “Menu & Locations” tab, which Parkhurst General Manager Maria Foxall said is updated every five weeks.

The menu includes allergies and dietary restrictions for every single item being served that day.

The “Menu and Locations” section on the website also features the option for students to “Order from Home,” according to Foxall. Some of the options offered include small packages such as candy bars, cupcakes, soda packs, chips, or even a mix of some of these.

“We’re actually posting a how-to for students since it’s been up and running,” she said.

Foxall hopes that more students will use the tool.

Apart from the menu section, the new website also has a designated section where students can learn about the members of Parkhurst, as well as contact someone. One area that Foxall is looking forward to better access for students to contact the Dining Committee with any questions or meal suggestions they might have. She hopes this will allow Parkhurst to better cater its offerings.
“There’s 960 students on a meal plan,” Foxall said. “And I know that they’re going to miss something from home.”

The Our Approach section features many of the executive staff members, which provides information for users to use to contact and learn more about them.

Another section featured on the website that Foxall hopes will be used is the “Events” section. She said Parkhurst wants to continually update this section whenever new events are being planned by Brooks, McKinley’s or catering.

Currently, some of the upcoming events listed in this section are “Club Nostalgic Pop-up,” “Boards and Bottle” and “Pancake Chef Table.” Underneath each of these events is the location and date.
To market the release of the new site, Parkhurst and the Dining Committee have used multiple methods to ensure as many students as possible have laid their eyes on it. One method Parkhurst used was Instagram, Styers said.

Staff also handed out flyers with QR codes to the website to students who were swiping in to the dining halls, according to Foxall.

So far, Foxall said the new website launch has been relatively smooth, with only a few minor issues here and there. Some students submitted issues they had with the website, such as a cafeteria that is not located on campus popping up on one of the subsections.

“Recently, there have been some issues with the website like bugs and links that don’t go anywhere,” Lindsay said.

However, Parkhurst has been quick to fix any bugs or links that have been acting up to ensure student satisfaction, according to Lindsay.

Styers also added that a link to the new website was going to be added to GatorHub soon, since the current one still takes users to Parkhurst’s old website.

The Dining Committee is busy finding ways to ensure student feedback is addressed in a productive, appropriate manner, according to Lindsay.

Compared to the previous dining website, Lindsay said some students have told the Dining Committee that it is much easier to navigate and find the information they are looking for.

As the website continues to gain more traffic, Lindsay and Styers said the Dining Committee’s main goal is to continue working on bug fixes. They both recommend that students look at the Allegheny Student Government meeting minutes released every other week on GatorHub for future updates and fixes on the website.