Close up of Dining Hall menu sign with food warning labels noting things like dairy and gluten content.

When senior biology and psychology major Melissa Patel ordered pasta at the South Campus Dining Hall last fall and requested no meat, her server asked her if she was vegetarian — a first in her experience at this university.

When Patel replied yes, the server used a ladle reserved for vegetarian dishes. And this semester, Patel said she has noticed more changes — veggie and meat burgers cooked on different grills, employees changing gloves and utensils in between dishes.

In an effort to improve sensitivity toward students with allergies and special food preferences, Dining Services has been working to improve its staff’s training. Following mounting complaints in 2012, spokesman Bart Hipple said officials implemented additional training, which seems to be paying off.

Lori Dominick, Stamp Student Union food court general manager and Dining Services guest services coordinator, conducted a survey this fall on customer service in the dining halls. Officials are still analyzing the results, but preliminary numbers show that students saw improvement in the staff.

“Comparing this fall to last fall, in every unit the staff did better,” Dominick said.

In November 2012, students told The Diamondback they were unhappy with how the dining halls approached allergies and food preferences. Complaints ranged from uninformed employees to a lack of differentiation between utensils for students with special food considerations.

Dominick attributed the improvements in part to the recent initiative to train staff in greeting and interacting with customers.

“We’ve been really making a concentrated effort with the staff in the dining halls,” Dominick said. “We wanted to explain what we are looking for with customer service.”

Patel said she noticed the change in staff attitude over the semesters. She said last fall was the first time an employee was proactive about asking her about a food preference.

South Campus Dining Hall Assistant Director Sean Tilton said the solution was to train dining staff to be more understanding and willing to help students with allergies and food preferences.

“We were just trying to get our employees on board,” Tilton said. “A lot of it is that students don’t want to be a burden. We needed to make everyone more sensitive about it.”

Hipple said the staff is better equipped to handle students’ needs. For the past few semesters, dining staff orientation included a 45-minute presentation on the nine major food allergens, Tilton said.

The dining halls offer students the opportunity to approach managers about specific food allergies or preferences in order to work with the campus nutritionist Sister Maureen Schrimpe and diner chefs to create specific menus and items the student can eat.

Since 2012, Hipple said many more students have come forward about their needs. For example, in 2012, two students self-identified having nut allergies to Dining Services, while in 2014 10 students have, according to Schrimpe and Senior Executive Chef John Gray. Hipple said officials have also increased the number of special dietary accommodations available and are considering installing a vegan station in the South Campus Dining Hall.

“That is absolutely a potential future plan,” Hipple said. “I don’t know if it will be called Sprouts, but we are absolutely looking to fit a vegan station in the South Campus dining hall.”