Midd Xpress has returned to its normal hours of operation from 8 a.m. to midnight this semester after a period of uncertainty last spring caused by staff shortages and retention issues. However, the Grille is only operational from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, creating challenges for student employees at Midd Xpress as well as other students looking for more food options at night.
Dining services currently has only 15 full-time employees, in addition to a number of other part-time employees, according to Dan Detora, executive director of Food Service Operations. The hours at the Grille have been impacted by understaffing this semester, Detora told The Campus in an email.
“We will most likely not be able to staff late night Grille this year as we are down to one employee. We are trying to keep Midd Xpress open, but even that is questionable at this point,” Detora wrote.
The Grille typically provides Midd Xpress with hot food, such as chicken tenders, Dr. Feel-Goods, mozzarella sticks and french fries to sell from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., but the system has been inconsistent this semester, said Ashley Aparicio ’26, a Midd Xpress student employee.
“Recently I’ve noticed that there are certain days when the Grille cannot bring hot food, and so all of the [athletes], after practicing their sports, normally come to Midd Xpress because they expect hot food, but there is nothing, because they are so understaffed at the Grille,” Aparicio said. She added that the unpredictable availability of hot food appears to depend on how many Grille staff members are available on any given night.
The college continues to face staffing challenges with the Grille after three staff members left last year, two of whom cited poor student behavior as the main reason for leaving, and continues to experience volatility in its employment. One manager at the Grille plans to retire next year, and another manager recently came back from a break, according to Aparicio. She added that based on conversations with Midd Xpress managers about food locations around campus, Aparicio learned that dining services has opened up new student positions in the Grille, and are currently working to extend their hours.
In an email to students on Aug. 16, Detora wrote that the college would be offering students with cooking experience $16.75 an hour to work as Student Cooks in either the dining halls or the Grille. The college’s job posting, which is still accepting applications, lists the employee’s responsibilities as food preparation for simple meals, cleaning cooking stations and managing inventory.
Caroline Deleon ’26, a cashier at Midd Xpress, has not personally experienced any difficulty at her job this year, but described a recent event when Midd Xpress unexpectedly closed at 5 p.m. because there was no manager available to supervise after that point.
“There were a lot of people going down [to Midd Xpress], expecting it to be open, and it was closed, and people were so mad because a lot of them don’t have time to eat in the dining halls before 8:30,” Deleon said.
Miscommunications about Midd Xpress have also affected student employees working there on a more personal level. Aparicio recently struggled with mishap about staffing at Midd Xpress. After she signed up for shifts this fall in advance last spring, a misunderstanding with Midd Xpress management about her study abroad status led to those shifts being given to other student workers. Aparicio learned of the problem from another student employee at Midd Xpress, and after raising the issue with the manager in charge of scheduling, was unable to reclaim her originally planned shifts because other students had already taken them.
“Out of all of my shifts that were taken, I only got two back,” Aparicio said. She added that this was the only job she had planned for the fall and the problem has negatively impacted the amount of hours she intended to work.
Although students have encountered these various challenges with the Grille and Midd Xpress, and are still evaluating the trade-offs made with the new dining hall hours, Detora emphasized that the college’s staffing problems have affected many areas of dining services this year.
“It has been a real struggle within all of dining to find and retain staff,” Detora wrote.
Editor’s Note: Managing Editor Ryan McElroy ’25 contributed reporting.
