Students come from every corner of the campus to satisfy their growling bellies at the Mesa Cafeteria. The stations inside offer students a multitude of options to choose from and an area for students to relax.

From the delicious sandwiches at the Mesa Deli to the sizzling pizza in the Pizza Corner, there is a cure for most cravings. The cafeteria also houses a section where students can get fresh sushi at the Sushi Kotta Bar or grab a hot meal at the Mesa Grill.

When asked, most students replied that the food is fresh and affordable. The great attitude the employees working there have is greatly appreciated by all customers.

If you’re a coffee drinker, there’s The Java Jive that offers a hot cup of coffee in any size or shape that one would desire. Returning students may be excited to find that there are new additions to the menu this semester.

Since the school could not afford the labor for evening service, there are new hours that include the cafeteria closing at 2:30 p.m. The earlier closing time began in January.

Gayla Pierce, district food service manager, has worked at the Mesa Cafeteria for almost 9 years. She was happy to talk about the new items that appeared on this semester’s menu. Although the early close hours started during the spring semester, most of the healthier food choices are new this fall.

“In the last 3 to 4 years, there hasn’t really been much change to the menu,” said Pierce. Her and her employees felt the menu was “tired.” They were doing a lot of internal changes and wanted customers to have options. She started asking the employees what the word was about the food they were offering.

In January, the food service team started working to not only make changes to the menu, but also conducting product tests to see what would be the most beneficial additions.

“The main focus of changing things around was to make healthier options for customers without hiking up the prices,” said Pierce

Healthier choices include having the option to make any breakfast sandwich with egg whites.

“Using egg whites takes a lot of the fat out right away,” said Pierce.

For lunch they added a black bean and brown rice bowl, which consists of an assortment of veggies with tomatoes and green onions on top, salsa and soy sauce.

“One of the employees thought adding soy sauce might be good on the black bean and rice bowl and it really does add a little something to it,” said Gayla Pierce.

Students can get the black bean and rice bowl for $4.25 or make it $5 to add chicken.

While it may seem that the prices would indeed rise with the healthier menu, the prices are close to the same they always have been. Pierce said they really tried to keep the costs down, but wanted to spice up the menu at the same time.

When asked what her favorite items on her menu were, Pierce said, “[that] both the black bean rice bowl and the $1.50 breakfast taco are really good. Along with the California burrito, Carne Asada burrito, the grilled chicken sandwich and the deli sandwiches. I’d also have to say that the Carne Asada French fries rock.”

Pierce thoroughly enjoys what she does here at Mesa.

“It’s fun and different. There’s always a challenge. Although downsizing and trying to make everything work despite the economic downturn has been stressful,” she said.

Closing earlier was something the Mesa Cafeteria had to do, so they are trying to make it easier on students arriving after 2:30 p.m.

“You can only have so many salads and sandwiches for dinner. There are burritos located in the C-store, but sometimes those aren’t enough for dinner,” said Pierce.

When asked if she felt she had made a huge impact on the cafeteria food program, Pierce said, “From what I inherited? Absolutely. Downsizing made it hard. Were cautiously optimistic about this year. We had a much better opening this year than last.”

Price said that her goal in being a food provider is “to provide as good a product and services possible given the economic crisis were in.”

Things to look forward to from the hard working cafeteria team are an enticing smoothie program that gives customers a new option, expansion on packaged salads as well as additional entrées for night students.