Students’ schedules are often filled to the max, leaving little time to sit down and eat at Pfeiffer or wait in the lines for food from Au Bon Pain or Tyler’s.

This year, Pfeiffer is going to offer a to-go option for students in a rush.

Each to-go meal can be purchased for one board block. When a student purchases a to-go option they will receive a reusable container to fill and take with them on the go.

The purpose of this to-go option is to add a way for students to keep themselves fed even on hectic days.

“A lot of students can’t get in during the hours that we’re open, so we want to make sure that people aren’t missing their meals,” Andy Decker, director of Dining Services, said.

Larissa Mincks, a senior, believes this to-go option will be effective in her daily routine.

She also said it will be something students with less busy schedules would appreciate.

“I think most students would really love this option. Busy students would appreciate it most, but other students would be able to take food and eat in their rooms if that’s what they prefer,” Mincks said.

She said her chaotic schedule makes it hard to get different options for food.

“With all of my classes close together, and rehearsals on top of that, it would be nice to be able to grab food from Pfeiffer on the go. I get so sick of nothing but Au Bon Pain because that’s all I have time to get sometimes,” Mincks said.

Another student who says they would benefit from the to-go option, sophomore Audrey LoVan also thinks there may be a downside to this new option.

“I think it sounds like a great plan,” LoVan said, “but a negative to the to-go option is they may not get their to-go boxes back or they might run out of containers if they only have so many and don’t have a proper return policy.”

The program hasn’t been implemented yet because Decker is working to find the proper containers.

“The part that Chartwells wants people to know about is that we are committed to the sustainability piece of [the program],” Decker said.

“That’s why I’m trying to make sure we source the right containers. We want to be able to reuse and reuse. Also, the law requires we make sure the containers are properly sanitized and they go through our machines and hit a certain temperature. Therefore, I need to find the right containers to stand up to the temperatures,” he said.

The to-go containers will be reusable and students are expected to bring them back to Pfeiffer so they can be properly sanitized and redistributed.

“When you sign up for the program we will issue you a new container, then you fill it, you take it home, you do whatever you do. You can rinse it out or bring it back dirty.

You’ll turn it in and we’ll give you a new one or give you one that we have washed,” Decker said about the return policy.

Decker has been involved in implementing similar to-go options at other schools and says that the program has made a huge impact, especially with the students who couldn’t make it to the dining hall during the available hours.