The elections for the posts of President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Society for Student Mess Services (SSMS) took place on the 15th of November, 2019. Kesava Garikipati was elected President, with Garima Dhar and Anusha Kumar being elected Secretary and Treasurer respectively. The English Press Club sat down with the President to better understand the functioning of SSMS and the initiatives it has planned.

About SSMS

The SSMS is responsible for handling the functioning of all messes across campus. It also oversees the welfare of the 150 employees under its purview. It handles matters of compensation for workers, including promotions, allowances for the medical expenses of themselves and their dependents, and grants for the education of their children. 

Kesavafirst talked about the election procedure for the posts. Initially, elections for the mess representatives are held in August, in parallel with the Student Union elections. These are handled by an independent body—the SSMS Election Commission. The same body conducts the elections for the three SSMS posts wherein fifteen people—the nine mess representatives, four Advisory and Monitoring Committee (AMC) members, and two ex-officio members—form the electorate. 

The SSMS is divided into five committees—Menu, Grub, Finance, Human Resources (HR), and the Quality Health Safety Environment (QHSE). While Menu and HR are self-explanatory, the Finance committee decides the pay structure of employees, and are in charge of preparing the budget for the initiatives undertaken by the SSMS. The QHSE committee looks after the overall sanitation of the messes, and manages feedback on food quality. The Grub committee looks after the logistics of the grubs held throughout the year. 

The Treasurer takes care of all financial matters and the Secretary looks after issues pertinent to human resources. The President supervises the overall operations of the SSMS and is the authorized signatory.

When asked about what exactly the AMC is, Kesava explained that AMC members have the same functions and duties as the mess representatives. During their probation, second-year AMC members learn about the working of each and every committee of the SSMS. Their main role, in addition to this, is to bring continuity to the entire system of SSMS. This prior knowledge enables them to help the Mess Representatives understand the intricacies of the system when they come in.

General Opinions About Food On Campus

When asked to comment on students preferring to go to redis and other eateries on campus instead of availing the mess facilities, Kesava was quick to point out that the quality of food provided in the mess is much better. He went on to add that the prices at messes are almost always lower, as SSMS is a not for profit body. He also spoke at length about the feedback mechanism in place in the SSMS app. The menu committee, which meets every fifteen days, reviews the ratings and makes changes to the menu accordingly. “One other way to understand what is not liked by the majority is to assess the amount of each food item that is being wasted in the messes,” he added.

Current and Future Plans

Speaking of future plans, Kesava spoke about the SSMS evening canteen. In March 2019, the evening snacks facility was started, in which students could enroll on a ten-day basis to avail a predetermined menu of snacks. Now, with the evening canteen facility, students can order their dish on demand rather than eat what is on the menu. Kesava hopes that the evening canteen, with competitive prices and better quality, will attract as many students as other eateries on campus. 

SSMS has launched a new app, which aims to provide a better feedback mechanism by enabling students to directly speak to their respective mess representatives regarding queries and concerns. Students will also be able to sign up for or cancel grubs via the app. In further updates, there will also be a feature where students will be able to see their daily expenses at the PitStop. Kesava added that SSMS is planning to set up a packing facility for breakfast which will be beneficial to students who miss it. Students wanting to avail this service will have to pay only the packing charges to get their items packed on the go. Making a specialized menu to cater to the dietary requirements of athletes is also on the cards. 

Finally, he added that SSMS is also involved in the Zomato Feeding India Initiative, as part of which it provides leftover food at the messes to the needy in and around Pilani, reducing food shortage and wastage.