Scott Logush
Editor-in-Chief
The dishwasher in Sparky’s Place, the main buffet-style dining hall located in the center of Merrimack’s campus, broke in December. It occurred about two weeks before the students left for the winter vacation and was still down. They turned to using disposable plastic and styrofoam plates with plastic cutlery, which created a large amount of waste and students were less than thrilled about this. Without a clear idea of when to expect the dishwasher to be fixed and for things to return back to normal, I reached out and got a meeting with Sodexo General Manager James Reidy.
I met with him on Friday and we went behind the scenes in the dish room to see what was going on, James wanted it to be transparent and answered all of my questions on the matter. Here’s the story of Sparky’s dishwasher and how it’s being fixed.
The dishwasher went down two weeks before the students went back for the holiday break. It is an entirely custom machine, requiring custom parts and installation to be properly done. The dining team is committed to it being a true fix, looking to avoid a bandaid resolution that turns into more problems later. As the parts are custom, they are made by a manufacturer from Ohio, and with the timing being around the holidays, getting the parts in a timely manner proved to be a challenge, and the original timeline was one in March.
James “hated” having to resort to using disposable plates and cutlery as they worked around the clock to get the issue resolved. It’s expensive, it’s a bad look, it creates a poor experience for students, it’s not the solution they want. They hired extra staff to assist with the cleanup, and they paid to expedite the process to have the dish return up and running, and to get new parts for the dishwasher. The idea behind that is to ensure it is a long-term solution and with new parts come warranties and insurance that show the commitment to it being a true fix, and are aiming to have it fully operational by the end of the week.
Sodexo General Manager James Reidy had the following to say:
“The dish machine repair at Sparky’s has been a significant challenge for Merrimack Dining, but our team has risen to the occasion. Facing this obstacle just two weeks before Christmas Break made expediting repairs even more difficult, yet we have remained relentless in our efforts. Our dedicated dining staff have gone above and beyond, putting in extra hours and hard work to ensure that the campus dining experience remains a top priority. I couldn’t be prouder of their commitment and resilience in getting the job done despite the setbacks. We remain optimistic that the repair will stay ahead of schedule, and we look forward to having the dish machine fully operational within the week.”
Dining also has some fun events in the works and is very reliant on student feedback. They want to hear from all students, freshmen to seniors, so that the Merrimack College dining experience is truly theirs. Their efforts include having berries in the Mack Mart on Mondays to start the week off right for students, as well as a number of other items such as planning for Majors & Minors to reopen when warmer weather comes due to safety reasons, and a number of February events that you can see on the February calendar below.
It has been an extensive process for dining to fix the dishwasher. They hear students’ concerns and have been more than willing to be transparent on the topic. The extra money that has been spent to expedite the process, the extra man-hours being put in, they are working around the clock, from spending the money to expedite the process to extra hours on the ground. The fix is coming soon, and it will be a long-term fix. A huge thank you goes out to James for working with me to show and explain the situation, especially the parts that you cannot see from the outside.
