Background
Over the past few years, the British media focused on the healthy eating in the UK especially after noticing people's obsession with the fast food instead of eating fresh food .
It was really an urgent need to fill up this issue that affects mostly the children . That's why the British government has taken a leading role to deal with this matter.
Here in London, an increasing number of students spend lots of time at the university so that they can get an access to the facilities offered by the university which includes the catering service.
Talking about the university of London, we have London Metropolitan University which is known for its canteen that offer to students a wide range of food.
The university is trying to improve the services and try to meet the student's need by providing them a warm atmosphere but foremost a good quality of food but the question is how well did the catering service deal with the student's basic need and how are they concerned about the healthy eating of the students.
It is interesting to find out whether they are satisfied or not about the catering service.
Aim
The aim is to know whether the students are satisfied or not about the catering service and what area of improvement the catering service needs to focus on.
Method
The sample size was 28 pre-sessional students of different ages and genders and from different countries. They were all students of London Metropolitan University.
Data collection
This was carried out through the use of a questionnaire. Initially the questions were trialled with a sample of 5 people. A new improved questionnaire was made to investigate the student's point of view about the catering service, and where they had to rank the food in terms of quality, variety and prices and what's their impressions about the dining area as well as the catering's staff.
Findings : How are they satisfied with the catering service
A significant number of international students use the catering service :
28,57% of students use it 2-3 times per week .
17 % of them use it everyday
32,14 % use it once per week.
This could indicate that they fancy going to the canteen and like the service offered by the catering.
The majority of them claimed that the quality of food is fair with 53,57%
A certain number of them said that the quality of food is good.
This could mean that the catering service meet the student's need by providing them a good quality of food.
Many students mentioned that the food prices are affordable with 75% strongly agreeing.
This appear to show that everybody can afford to buy food from the canteen.
46,42% remarked that there is not enough variety of food.
A large number of them insisted that they need a homemade food hat is to say a fresh food .
Some of them want food from their original country such as Spanish omelet, Chinese food...
Here we talk about choices of food which led them to insist on the variety of food.
64,28% of students said that they sometimes spend a long time to be served perhaps this means that there is not enough staff to meet the student's need .
They strongly agreed that the area is clean and the canteen is well ventilated as well as the staff is friendly .
This suggest that , on the whole the catering service pay attention to hygiene and customers .
Findings regarding what the catering service at London Met can do
According to the students , they need more staff to get a fast food so that they don't have to queue .
They also need more places as the canteen is not big enough to accommodate all the students .
They insisted on the fact that the canteen must provide them more choices of food ( they want some variety ) as well as a good quality of food ( it is better to have fresh food / homemade food)
Some of them suggested that the food prices have to be cheaper .
Conclusion
It was obvious that more staff is needed to get a fast service and it is better for students to get a fresh food in terms of healthy eating besides enough variety is essential to attract them .
Over the past few years, the British media focused on the healthy eating in the UK especially after noticing people's obsession with the fast food instead of eating fresh food .
It was really an urgent need to fill up this issue that affects mostly the children . That's why the British government has taken a leading role to deal with this matter.
Here in London, an increasing number of students spend lots of time at the university so that they can get an access to the facilities offered by the university which includes the catering service.
Talking about the university of London, we have London Metropolitan University which is known for its canteen that offer to students a wide range of food.
The university is trying to improve the services and try to meet the student's need by providing them a warm atmosphere but foremost a good quality of food but the question is how well did the catering service deal with the student's basic need and how are they concerned about the healthy eating of the students.
It is interesting to find out whether they are satisfied or not about the catering service.
Aim
The aim is to know whether the students are satisfied or not about the catering service and what area of improvement the catering service needs to focus on.
Method
The sample size was 28 pre-sessional students of different ages and genders and from different countries. They were all students of London Metropolitan University.
Data collection
This was carried out through the use of a questionnaire. Initially the questions were trialled with a sample of 5 people. A new improved questionnaire was made to investigate the student's point of view about the catering service, and where they had to rank the food in terms of quality, variety and prices and what's their impressions about the dining area as well as the catering's staff.
Findings : How are they satisfied with the catering service
A significant number of international students use the catering service :
28,57% of students use it 2-3 times per week .
17 % of them use it everyday
32,14 % use it once per week.
This could indicate that they fancy going to the canteen and like the service offered by the catering.
The majority of them claimed that the quality of food is fair with 53,57%
A certain number of them said that the quality of food is good.
This could mean that the catering service meet the student's need by providing them a good quality of food.
Many students mentioned that the food prices are affordable with 75% strongly agreeing.
This appear to show that everybody can afford to buy food from the canteen.
46,42% remarked that there is not enough variety of food.
A large number of them insisted that they need a homemade food hat is to say a fresh food .
Some of them want food from their original country such as Spanish omelet, Chinese food...
Here we talk about choices of food which led them to insist on the variety of food.
64,28% of students said that they sometimes spend a long time to be served perhaps this means that there is not enough staff to meet the student's need .
They strongly agreed that the area is clean and the canteen is well ventilated as well as the staff is friendly .
This suggest that , on the whole the catering service pay attention to hygiene and customers .
Findings regarding what the catering service at London Met can do
According to the students , they need more staff to get a fast food so that they don't have to queue .
They also need more places as the canteen is not big enough to accommodate all the students .
They insisted on the fact that the canteen must provide them more choices of food ( they want some variety ) as well as a good quality of food ( it is better to have fresh food / homemade food)
Some of them suggested that the food prices have to be cheaper .
Conclusion
It was obvious that more staff is needed to get a fast service and it is better for students to get a fresh food in terms of healthy eating besides enough variety is essential to attract them .
