Nick Swain

Nick Swain is the President of Warwick SU.

24-hour Costcutter and the Late Night Food Survey Results!

Posted on Tue 12 Feb 2013 at 20:44 by Nicholas Swain

Just a few weeks ago, I asked you for feedback on your experience of the late night food offering on campus. The aim was to get a better picture of what you would want Warwick Retail to do in order for them to improve the way things are currently. Firstly, I want to thank the 1076 of you that filled the survey out during that week; it was a great turnout that has made our findings a lot more representative of the general view. Thank you also for the comments many of you wrote in addition to the standard questions. I know that the team at Warwick Retail have found them especially useful in understanding what you would like to see on campus in the future.

My original aim was to deliver results based on the survey findings as soon as possible. A massive 98% of you said that you felt there should be more choice of food on campus than just the current Kebab Van, so we wanted to change that quickly! By now, I hope you have heard the news regarding the new 24-hour opening schedule for Costcutter on campus. This development comes off the back of 70% of you saying that you would want to use Costcutter if it was open 24-hours a day. The 4 week trial period starts on Monday of Week 7 (18th February) until the end of term and will be extended to all of Term 3 if it is a success. Given its size, Costcutter is subject to normal Sunday trading regulations and will therefore have the following opening times:

Monday: 8am onwards

Tuesday: 24-hours

Wednesday: 24-hours

Thursday: 24-hours

Friday: 24-hours

Saturday: Until 11pm

Sunday: 11am-5pm

I am really pleased that Warwick Retail has opted to trial these times and I expect that a similar schedule in Term 3 will go a long way to improving the food available during those crucial late nights in the Library.

I hope that this is just the start of a wider initiative to improve the food available on campus in the evenings. Some of the other results from the survey were not a surprise, including Domino’s Pizza being the favoured take away choice, but there was definite interest in other options, with 53% of you looking for a healthier alternative on campus. Other foods including chicken, fish and chips, as well as Asian cuisine were not far behind either. These findings show that there is definitely demand for more than just kebabs or burgers and I will now be talking much more with Warwick Retail about what they can offer in the long term in addition to opening Costcutter later. With this survey outcome, I hope that there is now scope to offer a decent late night outlet on campus once again that will be serving quality food after events and during those important all-nighters in the Library or Learning Grid. It is going to take a bit of time, but this survey has given the idea some serious traction for the not too distant future.

In addition to this, there are already discussions taking place to improve the opening times of the Library Cafés to better suit the Term 3 Library schedule. The aim would be to have at least the smaller of the cafés opening later so that there is somewhere near the Library to buy food and drink, other than the vending machines. Warwick Retail have not made a decision on this front yet, but I hope to be able to give you an update with some good news in the next few weeks.

All that leaves me to say is thanks again for taking the time to give your feedback on late night food and I hope that there will be many more exciting updates in the near future!

Comments

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Daniel Neville: 11:48am on 14 Feb 13 Why not get the local Domino's to fix it's grim two star Food Hygeine Rating before the SU whores itself for more of their cash with disregard to student health or reasonable food standards? Src: http://ratings.food.gov.uk/business/en-GB/239920
Heather Beer: 10:14am on 14 Feb 13 I don't see how a 24 hour costcutter helps at all... Couldn't we have had a cheaper costcutter not one that I cant afford to shop at unless my need is extremely dire.
Timothy Young: 5:15pm on 13 Feb 13 "Nick doesn't actually claim credit for this initiative, nor does he explicitly say it is a result of the survey." That's just simply not true Cosmo. Nick should have worded his blog an awful lot better if he didn't want it to appear self-congratulatory for a policy that clearly pre-dates his arrival in office. I think everyone here agrees that there needs to be re-written blog that doesn't aim to mislead the electorate.
Daniel Carr: 4:31pm on 13 Feb 13 Taking credit for a year long initiative. SU Plagiarism #ClassicSwain
Andrew Thompson: 4:30pm on 13 Feb 13 Nick, congratulations on getting over a 1000 people to fill in the survey, great stuff! If we could eventually get some healthy take-away option on campus that would be first-class. Thanks for engaging with this issue as it is something students really care about Nick!
Robert Newport: 2:49pm on 13 Feb 13 Hi Nick, Really happy to see this late night costcutter! A definite plus for Term 3.. However, I'm not quite sure what the link is between this and late night takeaway provision? (Especially when the hot food counter won't be open?) Don't want to just repeat what others have already said but if this decision has been a long time coming, what were the reasons behind the survey? And could you publish the full results of the survey please? It would be interesting to see them. Thanks
Dalia Gebrial: 2:02pm on 13 Feb 13 If Warwick Retail outlets are going to start opening late and making a profit, why can't our own Union outlets do the same? I thought the promise was late night Bread Oven, not late night Costcutter?
Thayyab Ahmed: 1:42pm on 13 Feb 13 call me a cynic but is there any coincidence things are only starting to happen mere weeks before elections. i understand late night bread oven was one of nick's manifesto pledges, i also understand that late night bread oven is not feasible in the slightest. is this change in costcutter opening times a way of nick saying he's actually done something during his tenure? is it too little too late?
Anuj Dhanak: 1:32pm on 13 Feb 13 I don't really get involved in SU politics much but I don't understand this latest development... When you spoke to me during elections week last year Nick you promised a late night Bread Oven service and apparently this is in your manifesto as well? Why haven't you done this? This is much better than some crisps from Costcutter.. Also, are the other people correct in saying that this was already in the pipeline and was nothing to do with you or the survey? Please can Nick answer my questions not anyone else. Thanks
Jac Bastian: 1:22pm on 13 Feb 13 Cosmo,if it is the case that Nick is not taking credit for the 24 hour opening and he is not linking it to the survey then maybe its best to edit these blogs seeing as everyone else is reading it as Nick claiming the glory for something that had little to do with him?
William Bushby: 1:04pm on 13 Feb 13 Cosmo maybe you forgot to read the second paragraph of the article. "My original aim was to deliver results based on the survey findings as soon as possible. A massive 98% of you said that you felt there should be more choice of food on campus than just the current Kebab Van, so we wanted to change that quickly! By now, I hope you have heard the news regarding the new 24-hour opening schedule for Costcutter on campus. This development comes off the back of 70% of you saying that you would want to use Costcutter if it was open 24-hours a day. The 4 week trial period starts on Monday of Week 7 (18th February) until the end of term and will be extended to all of Term 3 if it is a success. " That's pretty explicit for me. To me this article states explicitly/infers heavily that Nick commissioned the survey, took on board the results and managed to get Costcutter to open 24h. If this is not the case then maybe another blog post clearing it up would be useful?
Joshua Funnell: 1:03pm on 13 Feb 13 I appreciate the response by you both, however I'd request that in future Nick reply on his own behalf, because as you are both aware, officers have very distinct roles from one another and should not reply as a united front. Your roles may require cooperation, but you are not required to defend one another when a student individually identifies one of you for comment. If I have a question for you Cosmo it shall be sent to your email, or blog post/s. But I would concur with James' point above. This is what you said on your Facebook yesterday: "Thank you to the over 1000 of you that completed the Late Night Food Survey a couple of weeks ago. After several meetings with Warwick Retail I am now really pleased to confirm that, from this coming Monday (18th February), Costcutter will begin opening 24-hours a day! This is a great step towards improving the food offering on campus, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I will be writing a blog post later today on the subject that will highlight some of our survey's key findings and discuss where we want to go from here. Hopefully this is just the beginning of some significant changes that will make the food provision on campus much better for all of us!" The clear suggestion from this post is that the 24 hour decision was arrived at in the wake of the late night food survey, yet, as we have established, the chronology of the decision disproves this, as it has been already made some time ago. I have to say I think your misleading people in a bid to politically capitalise personally.
James Elliott: 12:38pm on 13 Feb 13 Isn't it slightly cheeky to claim that "This development comes off the back of 70% of you saying that you would want to use Costcutter if it was open 24-hours a day" if the decision has been in the pipeline for a year?
Nicholas Swain: 12:05pm on 13 Feb 13 Hi Josh. I think Cosmo answered most of your questions already. You're right that there will not be food served from the hot food counter immediately, but there are plans to do this in the near future, especially given the responses to the survey. When I know more I will gladly update you on the situation.
Cosmo March: 12:09am on 13 Feb 13 Just for some clarification on this and in response to Josh; Nick doesn't actually claim credit for this initiative, nor does he explicitly say it is a result of the survey. It has been in the pipeline as a possibility for some time, but the overwhelming demand evident in the survey response demonstrated this is something worthwhile for the University to trial. Agreed, it's a shame that they won't be serving hot food, but Nick has not linked this development to his manifesto in anyway - and it is hard to argue that this isn't at the very least a step in the right direction for late night food. It is, after all, a trial. Also fair point to argue this is conveniently close to elections, but Nick has been working on this since last term. Hope that clears some stuff up.
Joshua Funnell: 11:23pm on 12 Feb 13 Hey Nick, hope you're well. It's great to see Warwick Retail deciding to trial 24hr Costcutter - a few quick questions though: 1) How long has this decision been under consideration? It baffles me that they were able to organise a 24hr opening in such a short space of time after the survey results were released... A union employee informed me today that this has been planned for nearly a year now, is this the case? 2) I understand that this move will be useful for those doing late night library stints but how does this address the problem of late night hot food? I have been told that this 24hr opening will not include the hot food counter? So the only food available will be snacks and sandwiches. I don't understand how this is being sold as a victory on improving the current situation? 3) If your answer to the first question is that it was very much a last minute decision, why has it taken so long to implement? It seems a convenient time (2 weeks before the elections) to finally attempt to address this pledge in your manifesto. Thanks
Pavlos Leventis: 9:28pm on 12 Feb 13 (Y)