USC formed the Campus Dining Advisory Board for students to voice their concerns and to potentially influence the future of campus dining through the board this semester. As of now, the board consists of seven students from various residence halls.

“We formed the Campus Dining Advisory Board to get student input for making and shaping our dining program in the future,” wrote Dirk De Jong, the assistant vice president of USC Hospitality and USC Hotel, in a statement to the Daily Trojan.

Leonard Tham, the senior director of campus dining, said the University was motivated to create CDAB to increase direct communication between students and the dining hall management team. The ultimate goal is to provide a better dining experience, he said.

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“The [resident assistants] are excited,” Tham said. “And then we spoke to our managers, [who] spoke to the students. Students are very excited, and they want to be in that group. There was really little to no effort from our side, and we already got a group.”

The dining hall currently employs a platform called “Text and Tell” to collect student feedback. Strewn about the dining tables are QR codes that students can scan to text feedback, but Carlos Perez, the associate director for residential dining, said not many students submit responses.

Perez said the formation of CDAB provides another opportunity to gather additional feedback more efficiently.

Tham said that it is important to collaborate directly with students since the dining experience “belongs to the students.”

The board held its first meeting at the start of February, in which students proposed extending the dining halls’ operating hours, according to Perez. The board is currently discussing adjustments with the dining hall teams and will provide an update during the next meeting, Perez said.

Additional student suggestions included adding nutritional data to menus at Tutor Campus Center, improvements to the reusable container program and enhanced efforts to reduce food waste, de Jong wrote.

Zeyu Zhang, a freshman majoring in anthropology and narrative studies, said she visits the dining halls six to seven times a week. She thinks the food is “a little bit too expensive” and is not satisfied with its variety and inclusivity provided.

“I would like to have more Asian food, particularly East Asian parts, like Chinese or Japanese food. I feel the current menu is not that authentic,” Zhang said. “It’s not really the type of Japanese food or Chinese food that is really good.”

Perez said CDAB will make menu-driven and operationally driven adjustments based on the needs of the students.

The committee will meet twice a semester, and students who are interested in participating in the board can email the department of residential dining directly, Perez said. In its second meeting of the semester, the board will keep working on recruiting students and make a final list of board members.

“We’re very excited to open up the lines of communication so that we can further improve our program,” Perez said. “Especially when it’s person to person, whether it’s positive or negative, we’re open to all feedback so we can improve our services.”