When students arrived back on campus this semester, many were surprised to find that dining looked very different than it had been in years past.
While there have been dining changes over the past few years, this was by far the most drastic change, led by Emily Damon, the new general manager of dining who started at the College in January. She told The Colby Echo that the changes are part of an overall mission to give each of the dining halls a distinct experience.
“We’re really trying to focus forward on themes,” Damon said.
Perhaps the biggest change that Colby Dining experienced was Foss’ switch. It went from the global dining hall to what Damon called the “comfort” dining hall. It has the most stable menu from day to day with three main stations: the All-American Grill, the Taqueria, and Al Forno. Foss consistently has pizza, pasta, burgers, and other comfort foods that used to be scattered throughout the different dining halls.
Damon said that this change was to increase student participation in Foss.
“When we were working with the Colby administration, we looked at the different dining halls and their participation. We saw a trend towards Foss falling off the radar completely. It had low participation, low movement, and between our company [Bon Appétit] and Colby, we wanted to work on a program that would increase that participation,” she said.
She pointed out that, more than just trying to increase participation, Foss’ switch was caused by dining surveys students filled out in the spring.
“While the Foss switch was participation-driven, we were motivated by the spring surveys students completed last semester. People were asking for more comfort food. We know students love their cheeseburgers, chicken burgers, chicken tenders, and pizza, and we wanted to create a student-driven dining hall because it already has the public dining space,” she said.
Nat Gonyea `25 pointed out that Foss’s switch did not necessarily make it unique.
“Foss reminds me a little too much [of] the Spa. It’s fine, but it took away a very unique option. It feels like we only have two real dining halls now,” she said.
Damon disagrees with Gonyea.
“We found that we offer a wide range of vegan and vegetarian options in all the dining halls, so Foss wasn’t that unique to a general population. It was only unique to a focused population, and we wanted to look at the whole student body,” she said.
This need for uniqueness was one of the reasons dining pulled pizza and pasta from all the dining halls and concentrated these carbs in Foss.
“It was about creating another unique spot. If we had pizza everywhere, we’re not going to drive people to Foss. It was about reinventing Foss. Is it going to work? Eventually, I hope,” Damon said.
More than just changing Foss’ theme, dining also changed its hours. It now serves as a late-night spot that has unlimited dining until 9 pm and a la carte dining until closing. The Colby Dining website explains that the increased hours are because of requests made by the student body.
However, Foss’ increased dining hours did not come without a cost. Colby Dining’s main metric is “dining hours,” or how many total hours every dining hall is open per week. Thus, to add dining hours to Foss, they had to be taken away from somewhere. That somewhere was the Spa.
“The change wasn’t about cutting off [the Spa’s hours]. It was about adjusting and shifting them elsewhere,” Damon says.
She pointed out that Colby Dining added dining hours this semester.
“We have almost eight additional dining hours per week this year. We didn’t take any away. We just balanced them out. Bon Appétit told us to not take any hours away. We either had to balance them or add more, even if that affected us financially, it wasn’t about that. It was about making sure that we didn’t take anything away,” she said.
Now, the Spa is no longer open for dinner or weekend dining. However, they did add grab-and-go breakfasts, which students have been asking for since it was taken away in the fall of 2022.
“Bringing breakfast back to the Spa was a very hot topic on the spring dining survey, so we really paid attention to that,” Damon said.
This also led to taking away dinners.
“When we were making plans to turn Foss into the late-night place to help, what we thought would be, increased participation, we had to figure out how to balance the budget and staffing at the Spa,” Damon said.
However, Damon pointed out that the increased participation at Foss was not happening as the dining staff had hoped, and they are still working to see how they can make Foss more popular.
“We want to keep having conversations. We’re all open to ideas, and I think we can also work with Colby’s administration to see what will best suit people. Can I do sweeping movements back to what it was? Probably not, but we are expanding the menu as much as we can even though staffing is an issue,” she said.
Not all students believe that losing dinner at the Spa is worth the additional hours at Foss.
“The lack of grab-and-go dinner is harmful because it eliminates the only quick dinner option if you’re studying and don’t have time for a full dinner. Instead of grabbing food in 15 minutes and getting back to work, you have to go to a dining hall, wait in a crazy long line for food, and you’ve spent upward of 45 minutes that you might not have,” Kathryn Stone `26 said.
“The Spa closing dinner is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” Gonyea said.
Damon pointed out that she hears students’ thoughts, and dining is working to implement some of the changes that students are asking for.
“We’re getting feedback about not continuing dinners or offerings on Sunday nights at the Spa, so that’s something we’re looking at. It has been a very loud voice from the student body about that, and we take those things really seriously because ultimately we’re here for you all,” Damon said.
These changes can only happen with proper staffing.
“As soon as I possibly can with staffing – if I can find some more staff – I would really like to bring back at least Sunday nights at the Spa, and then extend hours as I continue to get more staff. Right now, it’s slim pickings,” Damon said.
Even with proper staffing, the Spa will not immediately go back to what it was.
“Once I get all the dining halls to where they need to be staff-wise, where they’re comfortable, the Spa will be my focus. I want to get that dining hall open longer for students who obviously need snacks for their study breaks after hours. I want the student body to know that I hear you, but I need to compromise. I’m not fully prepared to open with burgers and fries and stuff, I don’t have the staff, but I would love to be open to offer you all of the cold items, the bagel bar, and the coffee,” Damon said.
The other two dining halls have had makeovers as well, although theirs have been less drastic. Dana has become more focused on vegetarian and vegan food, taking over some of what Foss used to be. This includes moving the DIY egg station over.
While Dana currently has two burners to cook eggs on, just like Foss always had, Damon is planning on getting more burners so more students can make their eggs at once.
“At Dana, we are really trying hard to expand the DIY cracked station. We’re waiting on some collaboration with facilities. We need some more electricity down there. That’s a really popular program. I’d like to have a total of six burners eventually, but logistically, we might only be able to have four,” Damon said.
Where Dana took on the vegetarian and vegan aspects of the old Foss, Bobs took on the global food. There is a new global station which Damon said has been a big success. It is headed by Chef Aletha, who has been focusing on an Asian/pan-Asian theme. However, this will soon morph into an Indian theme.
“A lot of the items at the global station are gluten-free, which is great. Everything is fresh. It’s been really popular. It’s very healthy and protein-packed, so it can serve all the communities on campus,” Damon said.
Protein has been a big focus at Bobs because of its proximity to the Harold Alfond Athletic and Recreation Center.
“At Roberts, because we’re so close to the athletic center, we want to focus on protein-forward, power foods. But again, trying to have a good ethnicity rotation from the global station,” Damon said.
President David Greene pointed out that the College is unique in its number of dining halls.
“We are unusual for a small college because we have so many dining halls, with the three main ones and the Spa. Schools like Bowdoin and Bates only have one dining hall,” he said.
He continued that this may lead to more variation, but it also creates a greater need for staffing.
“There are some advantages to having three dining halls. You can have variations that you can’t have in one. It’s more costly to have three for all kinds of reasons. You have to staff them differently, managing three of them is a lot harder than managing one,” President Greene said.
Staffing is something that Colby Dining consistently struggles with and is often the root of issues.
At the end of the day, Damon is focused on the student experience. She makes her rounds to the different dining halls at least three times a day to make sure they are running smoothly and to connect with students.
She made sure to emphasize the importance of student feedback.
“Students who come to me with ideas and solutions instead of criticism are so effective. We want to work with the students and see what we can do to find common ground,” she said.
Already, Damon’s commitment to listen and adjust based on feedback is clear. Foss started as a limited swipe dining hall at the beginning of the year but quickly became unlimited after student feedback. Furthermore, when athletes were not getting enough carbohydrates at Bobs and gave feedback, the dining staff was quick to add pasta back to the menu on the weekends.
President Greene only had positive things to say about Damon and her vision for the future of Colby Dining.
“Emily Damon is going to do really good things for Colby dining,” he said.
Damon’s vision will have a chance to grow as the College constructs a new dining hall in the dorm building currently under construction.
“There is going to be a really interesting dining facility in [the new residence hall]. It won’t be like Foss or the Spa, but it will be a day and night great dining facility that will be on the corner of Runnals Walk and Cotter Drive,” President Greene said.
While this will be an exciting addition to Mayflower Hill, half of the students who currently attend the College will not be able to experience this new facility because it is not set to open until the fall of 2026, the fall after the current juniors graduate
Even so, as the College continues to grow its student body, this additional dining hall will be greatly appreciated. Dining is already crowded, so after two more years of increasing the size of the first-year class, this new facility will be a necessity.
Damon explains that she knows capacity is currently an issue, and she is working to find ways to rectify the situation.
“We have expanded seating as much as we possibly can with the demographics of campus. The population has continued to grow but the dining halls have not. We are looking outside the box, like how can we offer the food truck more and what more can we do to get students down to Foss,” she said.
She pointed out that Foss is the largest dining hall, with just shy of 300 seats. Dana is close behind and Bobs is significantly smaller. She recognizes that it is out of the way, especially for lunch when people are coming from academic buildings, but believes that if students begin going to Foss more for lunch, it will help balance the lines in the middle of the day.
All Damon asks is that students help her to make dining better for everyone.
“I want to figure out how to get students to the dining advisory meetings because that’s where we can really dig in and get some work done. I’m hoping to offer a platform where we can collaborate,” she said.
While the dining halls cannot go back to the way they were, Damon wants students’ input to improve and add to dining as it is now.
President Greene agrees that dining should listen to the needs of students. To him, there are three key elements to dining on campus.
“I want dining to be healthy, I want there to be variation in the food served, and I want to be responsive to the changing needs of students,” he said.
So, if you are unhappy with dining or have ideas on how to make it better, Emily Damon wants to hear your suggestions. All changes this year have been spearheaded by students because dining wants to do what the students want. Don’t suffer in silence. Attend dining advisory meetings and create the change you want.
~ Mairead Levitt `25
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