CAFETERIA REQUEST

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06922201
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2021
• Case Number: F-2021-02144
• Publication Date: December 29, 2020

Approved for Release: 2021/11/23 C06922201
Subject
cafeteria
Calendar for
December
Date Opened Description
12/29/20 Hi there, I was wondering who, if anyone, bears responsibility for
enforcing the mask and distancing rules in the cafeteria dining
area. I can't help but notice how many people use it as a mask-
free zone to sit and talk closely for long periods of time,
sometimes hours, and sometimes in groups of 4 or 5 individuals.
It's frustrating to see an area that looks like a superspreader event
waiting to happen in the middle of the building; it feels like the
opposite of a safe and mindful environment. If no one bears
responsibility for rule enforcement there, is there any chance to
simply close the dining area until sufficient vaccine dissemination
allows for reconstitution? Thank you.
12/29/20 I applaud the cafeteria for including meals representative of
Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Nonetheless, I am concerned that
Christmas was not included. If I read the calendar correctly, it
specifically calls out Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but it does not
specifically mention Christmas. On 16 December, the calendar
noted a "holiday meal," and even on Christmas day (25
December), the calendar only says "happy holidays." I recognize
that navigating this issue is quite difficult, but Christmas is neither
a bad word nor a banned word. It is important that we treat these
holidays in a fair and equitable manner. Moreover, we should not
be afraid of our backgrounds, our traditions, our heritage, and,
yes, even our religions. By learning more about these aspects of
our lives, we are able to better understand each other, which, in
my mind, can only make us better human beings.
I thank you again for highlighting meals from Hanukkah and
Kwanzaa (I enjoyed dishes from each). And I appreciate your
consideration of this note.
Building
ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
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Shrinking breakfast 12/22/20 Why the change to tiny breakfast burritos? It was all tortilla and NEW HEADQUARTERS
burritos no filling. Usually this is a good deal for breakfast, but $5 for BUILDING
greasy sausage and a sliver of potatoes is way too much.
Simple Servings 12/18/20 Hi there - I just wanted to provide some feedback on the delicious ORIGINAL
Feedback food that is being offered at Simple Servings at the HQ Cafeteria. HEADQUARTERS
It's really well prepared!! The veggies are especially tasty and the BUILDING
protein offerings as well as the soup are delicious. I avoid eating a
unfamiliar places or where I cannot see what is in the food due to
processed ingredients. Preservatives and MSG which is common in
quick and processed foods make me feel ill so its always a struggle
to find something tasty to eat when I don't bring lunch. I love that
at Simple Servings, they use fresh ingredients often some of it
being cooked right in front of you. They even make their own
stock from veggie leftovers to use in their meals which is totally a
wonderful surprise and when I have asked the chef that is at that
station about what is in a sauce or seasoning he is able to provide
that information as he made it with 'real' ingredients. Overall the
food service has been great at the other stands too but Simple
Servings is definitely my favorite. I just wanted to say thank you
for bringing so many wonderful offerings to the cafeteria here.
Have a wonderful day!
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Salad Bar price
discrepancies
Menu Item
Request increased
availability of zero-
calorie soft drinks
Bring Back the Pho
Bar
12/8/20 There appears to be a persistent misunderstanding between those ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
who work at Farmer's Field (the salad bar's name, if I recall
correctly) and those who work at the cafeteria cash registers.
Those at Farmer's Field have informed me that the crumbled
bacon bits are part of the fixed five-topping price and should not
be considered a protein with an additional cost. Those working
the cash registers disagree with this, claiming the bacon is an extra
cost. This always puts me in an uncomfortable position because I
do not know who is correct, and the situation remains unresolved
despite my best efforts, which is why I am writing you today.
What is the correct answer regarding the bacon? Thank you in
advance for clarity on this issue.
12/8/20 Where can I provide feedback on food from HQS cafeteria?
11/30/20 Request food services increase the distribution of diet soda
(specifically non Diet Coke / Diet Pepsi options) throughout the
HQS cafeteria and OHB vending machines. While machines /
refrigerators are regularly and consistently stocked with Coke and
Pepsi, employees are required to scour multiple machines over
multiple floors for options such as Diet Dr. Pepper and Cherry
Coke Zero. I don't believe I have ever seen these options in the
main cafeteria and the closest machines to my work area (3C
corridor) contain cherry coke zero at most once per week. I have
seen Diet Dr. Pepper in these machines only once in the past
month. Thank you.
11/24/20 Several colleagues in my vault would like to see the Pho bar
brought back. It was a nice reprieve during the winter months.
Hard to beat hot soup on a cold day!
NEW HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
NEW HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
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Broken equipment
in the HQS Cafeteria
Cafeteria Food
Good Job
is there a way to
submit feedback on
food services being
offered in the
cafeteria?
Breakfast burrito
line
11/20/20 This week there has been a problem with several of the ice
dispensers in the HQS cafeteria. I have seen blue plastic gloves in
the self-serve coffee area but then a few feet away is broken
equipment, which means more bodies congregating around the
only working equipment. Also there is an older gentleman
cooking who has been either wearing his mask around his chin or
wearing his mask under his nose.
ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
11/19/20 How do you justify selling an 11.47 cent lunch consisting of dried NEW HEADQUARTERS
out meatloaf with no gravy, liquidy partly cooled mash potatoes BUILDING
and slimy squash with a bottle of soda? The food quality here is
already less than a college or high school, barely above a prison
and since we are stuck here that justifies nearly 12 dollars for this?
11/17/20 I ordered the Stuffed Pork Burger with slaw today and I throughly
enjoyed it. The flavors blended well together and the slaw on top
was not over powering. I am not sure if it came from the Big
Sodexho kitchen or was a local creation, but either way, it was
very good. Thank you.
11/13/20 is there a way to submit feedback on food services being offered
in the cafeteria?
ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
11/6/20 Suggest an additional person be added to work the breakfast ORIGINAL
burrito line, heating the wraps ahead of time defeats the purpose, HEADQUARTERS
the wraps are cold before they are filled and folded. BUILDING
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Set up social 11/4/20 For COVID mitigation, I would suggest you temporarily remove all NEW HEADQUARTERS
distancing in bar-style, 2 person tables, tape together normal height tables and BUILDING
cafeteria mark designated seating areas so that people know they are the
proper distance away from anyone they are eating with. If you
want a great example, just visit a Panera, where they have stickers
showing where you can and can't sit.
Native American
Heritage Month
Lack of Lids
10/29/20 The Council for American Indians and Alaskan Natives and the NEW HEADQUARTERS
Diversity and Inclusion Office would like to assistance requesting BUILDING
that Sodexho run a Native foods menu as it did last year for the
month of November. This would be a similar effort to Black
History Month 2020 as well as Hispanic Heritage Month last
month. lam out of the office after tomorrow, so would appreciate (b)(3)
a response Friday if possible. Please include
on your response. Thank you.
10/28/20 Hello! ORIGINAL
HEADQUARTERS
I just purchased a burrito bowl from the HQs cafe and I was BUILDING
discouraged to find out that there are no lids available for the
'bowl (cardboard boat). I would like to suggest a different serving
container for this product line. I'm sure there are plenty of
options out there that would allow for a lid. Carrying my bowl
down the hallways without 'cover' was not optimal.
Lack of preparation 10/23/20 There are no signs indicating where pizza is upon entering the ORIGINAL
for moving the pizza cafeteria. There are no signs indicating that the options have HEADQUARTERS
station changed and so people shouldn't stand around waiting for BUILDING
someone to fill a box for them. The person who was supposed to
be in charge of that station didn't appear to know what was going
on, as one of her coworkers had to ask her these questions.
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Vegetarian 10/22/20 There is a vegetarian restaurant called PLNT Burger
Restaurant (pIntburger.com). There are a few locations in the Washington
Metropolitan Area. Would facilities consider bringing this type of
restaurant to Headquarters and surrounding buildings? This type
of fast food will give people who are vegetarian options and also
those who want to change their diet from time to time.
Raw Biscuits
OTHER - LEGACY
10/16/20 This morning I noticed the biscuit looked soft on the hot bar. ORIGINAL
Normally they are so hard they have the potential to cause great HEADQUARTERS
bodily harm is used improperly so this was a nice change of pace. BUILDING
So in addition to my breakfast medley I added one! I was pretty
excited to be honest. However... when I arrived at my desk and
opened it was raw in the middle... now say this was something like
a cookie or a brownie, that would have been fine! But it was not...
it was a biscuit. I had to remove about 40% of it to make it edible.
Can you please ensure that they are cooked all the way through
and at the same time ensure they are not so hard as to cause
great bodily harm if misused? I'm sure I'm not the only one that
got a raw biscuit. Thank you in advance.
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A few things...
10/5/20 Nice to have Mission BBQ but on 09/25/2020 one of the Meat ORIGINAL
servers was wearing a political face mask. We have the hatch act HEADQUARTERS
here and lam mentioning this to you that you are aware that BUILDING
political statements are on the Mission BBQ server staff that come
into the building to serve us.
Also, I see a LOT of food servers touching their masks all the time
when preparing food. I understand that it falls down that people
need to double hook their facemask so it does not slide down and
also sometimes I see the face mask NOT covering their noses.
I want you to be aware of these issues and address this with your
food prepare staff. Thank You.
Water Cups in the 10/1/20 I have recently returned to the WMA after a PCS elsewhere. I eat ORIGINAL
Cafeteria in the Headquarters cafeteria almost everyday. I have noticed HEADQUARTERS
that there are no cups for water available. I have asked several BUILDING
times about the water cups, and the cafeteria workers do not
seem to know their status. Can you please tell me when water
cups will return to the cafeteria? I do not want to be forced to
buy a sugared drink or bottled water that is a waste of plastic. In
addition, there is no COVID reason for water cups to be
unavailable. Historically, if a cafeteria customer purchased food,
that customer could use any cup to get ice and water. In the most
recent past, the cafeteria began charging if a customer used a non-
designated cup for water. And now there are no water cups to be
found. Please return the water cups to the cafeteria.
Thank you.
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Thank you and a 9/30/20 I wanted to send a note of thanks for providing the gluten free NEW HEADQUARTERS
suggestion brownies in the HQS cafeteria. Safe, gluten free baked goods are BUILDING
hard to come by for Celiacs and so its was a very nice to surprise
to be told there were some in the cafeteria. The suggestion I had
was to possibly put them in a separate container from the
"regular" sweets. This will help them stand out and be easier to
find. My coworker happened to see them and told me where to
find them.
Thanks for the 9/30/20 Hello, today I tried 3 flavors of the vegan cookies that are now NEW HEADQUARTERS
vegan cookies in the offered in the cafeteria and they are great. Thanks for adding this BUILDING
cafeteria new vegan option and I hope they stick around.
Celebration catering
for 1 Oct
9/21/20 Hi - the DS&T is holding a big virtual workforce event on 1 Oct to ORIGINAL
mark a special milestone. Would it be possible to get celebratory HEADQUARTERS
food (cake? individually wrapped cupcakes? individually wrapped BUILDING
cookies?) for our officers at HQ What would
the options be, given COVID-19 constraints? How does pricing
work? Please let me know. Thanks!
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Hot Bars and Salad 9/18/20 Good morning. ORIGINAL
Bars HEADQUARTERS
When will the self-serve hot bars, salad bars, and soup stations BUILDING
return to the Headquarters and other cafeterias? In New York,
self-serve hot bars, salad bars, and soup stations have returned
both at large grocery stores (such as Whole Foods) and at smaller
bodegas. Hand sanitizer is provided before entering the self-serve
areas, and customers are supplied gloves so that the only contact
made with common serving utensils is with a clean glove. In
addition, CDC has said that people are highly unlikely to contract
COVID-19 from surfaces as the virus does not live long on
surfaces. If we are adhering to science and data, there is no
reason not to reinstate self-serve hot bars, salad bars, and soup
stations. If there is currently no date set for the return of these
items, what is the plan for moving in the direction of reinstating
these areas?
Thank you.
Cilantro
9/10/20 Just want to remind SODEXO that a percentage of the population, NEW HEADQUARTERS
due to genetics, perceive the taste of cilantro as close to soap as BUILDING
actually eating a bar of soap. Please don't mix cilantro in with
other ingredients, rendering the dish unpalatable. For some
reason, adding cilantro to chicken seems to be SODEXO's favorite
past time. Pls consider making it a separate option to add to a
dish. thanks.
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Comment on
incident at Salad
Bar at 1115 on
9/2/2020
9/2/20 Good Morning OFMD - I hope you are doing well during these ORIGINAL
difficult times we all live ml I have never sent an email before to HEADQUARTERS
OFMD, but after what I experienced I felt this needs to be raised. BUILDING
At 1115 on September 2nd I went into the salad line where a nice
lady was waiting for people to place orders. I asked for a Thai
beat salad and as she was preparing it she had a gentlemen
employee behind her yelling at her the whole time. Anything she
would do he would say it was wrong and do it all over again. I was
trying to stay out of it but as the lady was keeping her composure
and making the salad she noticed the right dressing was not out
for the salad. She asked her colleague (who was yelling at her the
whole time about anything) to get the right dressing and he said
we dont have it and just put anything on it." She said no and he
kept berating her. I decided to chime in and asked him to calm
down and she is doing fine. The lady employee remade a new
salad for me which was excellent and asked which dressing I
wanted. I wish I got her name and the other gentlemen yelling at
her. She did an amazing job and I hope OFMD reaches out to her
that I appreciate her composure. In addition, if OFMD can remind
the gentlemen how you should act in public and how you should
treat your colleagues I would appreciate that.
I hope you have a great day and please stay safe.
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Portion Size
8/4/20 Good afternoon, I have been very disappointed with the portion
sizes provided in the cafeteria since things have started to reopen. BUILDING
It is a drastically reduced portion of food than what was provided
pre-COVID but still at the same costs. For example, the beef
shwarma bowl option today was limited to one small scoop of rice
and beef, and with all the toppings, still only filled 1/4 of the bowl
being used. It was a nice snack but not filling and certainly not
worth the near $7 cost. The perception is that the food services
contractor is trying to save money since their services have been
limited over the last few months. With that, comes the feeling
that the customer is being taken advantage of to make up for
their losses.
NEW HEADQUARTERS
lmpropper Mask 6/19/20 Good morning. I hate to be this guy, but this morning I visited ORIGINAL
Usage Starbucks at HQ at approximately 9:30 and was alarmed to see HEADQUARTERS
that the person making the drinks was not wearing their mask BUILDING
properly. Although it covered her mouth, she left her nose
exposed. I know it has to be incredibly hot doing that job, and I
know these masks are not pleasant in any way. That said, I felt
uncomfortable, and I felt like it defeated the purpose of wearing
the mask. I think this is particularly problematic for someone
serving food. I know that if I was uncomfortable, there were
probably a lot of people who felt the same way.
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Panda Express
Service
6/17/20 6.17.2020 12:00 PM
On the above date and time I was servced by at the
Panda Express food station. I noticed she deliberately provided
two scoops of the meat entre to persons before me. This is the
normal serving provided during my previous visiting of Panda
Ex presss.
During this visit she deliberately provided me a different serving
from the other patrons.
NEW HEADQUARTERS
BUILDING
Is this something that will be regularly practiced at this
establishment?
Burrito Bar- 3/13/20 The Breakfast burrito bar is great.... however I think the ORIGINAL
Cleanliness employees need to receive refresher training on keeping the work HEADQUARTERS
area clean, this morning while getting a burrito I noticed that BUILDING
there was a spill of sour cream, chease, peppers on the end of the
work counter.... 7 people went through the line then I went and
the area had still not been wiped down with each burrito being
brought right up to the spill. I know the line gets busy but the
work area for food should still be cleaned during the line work.
Egg whites on 3/13/20 Could you please produce plain egg whites or egg whites with ORIGINAL
breakfast buffet cheese without any of the vegetables in it so those of us who HEADQUARTERS
cannot eat egg yolks can also get protein? I see the scrambled BUILDING
eggs have this option. The peppers and onions are strong flavors
and can be disagreeable. Thank you.
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