Choosing chow: students let their stomachs be their guide. (Update).

How do you choose a food service? Ask the students. Better yet, ask students at other schools. That's what Wabash College (IN) did this year when it solicited bids for a new foodservice provider. With 15 vendors vying for the job, Director of Operations William Doemel realized he had a tricky problem on his hands: Vendor presentations often featured carefully prepared dishes that bore little resemblance to the fare students actually got.

Taking his cue from undercover restaurant critics, Doemel hit the road with three hungry students to sample meals at schools serviced by the short-list finalists. Traveling by car and plane over a period of four days, the group had dinner at Macalester College (FUN); breakfast and lunch the next day at St. Olaf College (MN); dinner that night at Wheaton College (IL); Day Three breakfast at St. Xavier College (IL); lunch at Manchester College (IN); dinner at Heidelberg College (OH); Day Four breakfast at Ohio Wesleyan University; lunch at Butter University (IN); and, finally, dinner at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (IN).

At each campus, the group dispersed and ate with different students. "Students talking to students is the best way to find out what's going on," Doemel said. "They won't tell an administrator what they think, but they sure will tell our students."

In the end, California-based Bon Appetit got the nod. Though the undercover eaters had to loosen their belts a notch, the Wabash campus is happy with the results. "The faculty is very pleased, and the students feet the food is much better," Doemel said. And all it took was a little bit of mess halt espionage.