Fresh Ideas has recently added sushi to the Campus eXchange (CX) menu. Although it has been offered Mondays and Wednesdays recently, the CX will move to offer it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Students are excited about the addition.

“It is a welcome change to the menu,” said Drury student Haley Heavner. “I really like it, and I’m glad they are offering it now. It makes me want to go to the CX more often.”

Implementing sushi was aimed to appease students’ wishes for a larger variety of food options on campus.

“It’s been really popular, we didn’t really announce that we were gonna do it because I just wanted to see what the reaction was gonna be,” said Ray Kozicki, director of dining services.

The sushi is provided by an outside supplier, Yoshi Jen. Yoshi Jen was previously a restaurant that turned its focus to catering, and now provides sushi to dining facilities in Springfield including Mercy and Cox Hospitals. Yoshi Jen’s services are approved by the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

Kozicki explained how the sushi sold in the CX has a very low-profit margin since it does have to be catered in. The addition of sushi was rooted in student satisfaction not profit.

“It is comparable to the price of sushi at other places,” said Heavner.

The CX offers five varieties of sushi currently. Although they are open to suggestions of different types to cater in, they will not be offering any made with raw fish.

Kozicki is looking for feedback on what students would like to see added to the CX menu.

“When we do something new at the CX, we have to look at the production and how production heavy it is. If it is something that is complicated or takes a lot of steps, it slows everybody down in that kitchen,” explained Kozicki. “The simpler it is the more likely it is to be added to the menu.”

Suggestions and feedback on what students would like to see brought to campus menus can be sent to Kozicki at rkozicki@freshideasfood.com.

Article written by Elaine Choate.