On June 2, the KAIST Cafeteria Monitoring Committee organized a forum attended by the manager of Kaimaru, KAIST’s signature cafeteria in the northern part of campus, to discuss the current issues and problems with the food and service at Kaimaru. The KAIST Herald talked with the Manager Jin Yeol Choi to discuss the present and future of Kaimaru.

Could you briefly introduce yourself and the foodservice company that currently runs Kaimaru?

My Name is Jin Yeol Choi, the manager of Kaimaru, which is currently run by the foodservice company Shinsegae Food. I started my culinary career at a hotel before moving to Shinsegae, where I am currently serving my 15th year at the firm.

Could you describe your role as the manager of Kaimaru?

My title may be the manager of Kaimaru, but I also overlook the entire operation in the Faculty Cafeteria, in addition to Kaimaru. My job description ranges from supervising and educating the dinner ladies and chefs, according to the teaching mandates directed from the headquarters, to organizing events and clientele management. I am also frequently commissioned to explore and investigate other dining businesses both in and outside the campus for bench-marketing purposes.

Considering the fact that you have been in the culinary business for over two decades, do you yourself actually participate in the devising and creation of food recipes?

My job includes recipe creation and modification. Based on the feedback given by the students in the quadri-annual survey conducted by the Cafeteria Monitoring Committee, I try to make changes and relay them to the dinner ladies and chefs in the most efficient way possible so that the changes I envisioned in my head is reflected on the menus. Obviously this is not always the case, so we are trying our best to train the dinner ladies to fix this problem.

According to the recent survey results, Kaimaru has been gradually improving in terms of customer satisfaction ratings. What do you think has contributed to these improvements in customer satisfaction?

To be honest, we have not had the smoothest of starts at KAIST. On our first customer satisfaction evaluation, we received a failing grade. What happened was that when we [Shinsegae] replaced the previous food company that had served in Kaimaru, we had increased the food prices to equal those in the East Cafeteria (for bench-marketing purposes). But apparently, the customers felt that there was not an increase in food quality proportional to the increase in prices and were therefore infuriated.

To remedy the situation, the upper echelons of management went on field trips to the East and West cafeterias to compare and find our comparative weaknesses. We also would start every morning with meetings with the chefs, dinner ladies, and the other heads of staff to discuss the menus and operating methods. From March 1, we started serving menus that were cooked on the spot and as a result, have received more favorable reception from the students at KAIST.

There were several proposed improvement plans at the forum. Which of these potential changes can we realistically expect next semester?

Well, I do not want to pinpoint a specific choice, as we are trying our best to make all of the aforementioned propositions a reality. The problem with food served over the weekends (especially Sundays) is that the cafeteria is understaffed. We are trying to remedy the situation by making sure that the people who are supposed to be on their shifts are punctual and by educating the chefs and dinner ladies to produce a certain standard of taste in all of the dishes.

As for the variety of food, we are exploring new menus suitable for college students. We are frequently visiting other dining businesses to see whether they have any menus that we can adopt as our own and add to our catalogue. In the case of foreign-friendly menus, we need some action on the foreigners’ part to make this happen. For example, Halal food is not only difficult to obtain in Daejeon, but it is also difficult to supply in the cafeterias because we do not have an estimate for the demand.

Are there any other words you would like to say to our readers?

We may have gotten off on the wrong foot with the students, but I just want to let the people know that we are not indifferent to your voices and concerns regarding Kaimaru and the food served here. I will try my best to incorporate your opinions and suggestions to make Kaimaru a better place.