In an attempt to boost student turnout at Ursa’s, Bon App‚tit is shaking up the menu, adding crˆpes and a hot cocoa bar to the caf‚.
“We want to try to draw in more students, [so] we added a crˆpe bar. It will be sweet and savory with meat crˆpes and sweet crˆpes,” said Kathy Carmody, general manager of Bon App‚tit.
On a regular weekday, Ursa’s services between 400-600 students. Five times as many students congregate at Bear’s Den, with its larger selection and longer hours, at a rate of 3,000 students per day.
“We would just like to take some pressure off Bear’s Den,” said Carmody.
Now open from 6 p.m.-1 a.m., Ursa’s also has remodeled its coffee station. The new section boasts a cocoa bar where students can make cocoas with espresso and different flavored whipped creams, “just to bring something different there to try to draw students in,” explained Carmody.
Also on the South 40, Bear’s Den and Bear Mart underwent a few price increases.
“We didn’t change any concepts in there,” Carmody said.
Center Court also has new hours of 6 p.m.-9 p.m. to better accommodate students and business.
Other Bon App‚tit dining areas also have altered menus. The Village is now geared more toward vegan and vegetarian tastes and houses an array of vegetables that will change daily.
“You can make your own kind of thing,” said Carmody. “It’s like a protein bar that’s a mixture of raw and cooked vegetables and grains. You can pick the different items, like grilled asparagus, rice and lentils and put in what you want.”
While dining changes occur around campus, students will return to a familiar Taco Bell stand in the Mallinckrodt food court. The franchise’s contract expires in November, and, although no brand-name replacement has yet filled out a contract to take over the Taco Bell, Carmody said that Bon App‚tit and its parent company, Compass, are working to bring in an Asian-themed food service.
“Frankly, we need to meet with more students to figure out what we’re going to put in there,” said Carmody.
In response to last year’s controversy over how much Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum! Brands, Inc., paid its tomato gatherers, Student Union sent out a survey to all undergraduates last spring asking whether or not students wanted to boot the bell. More students replied that they would rather have Asian food instead of Taco Bell.
“[We’ll] put an Asian concept in there over Christmas break so that we have something for the spring,” said Carmody, adding that Bon App‚tit would be catering the Asian food until a brand-name food service agrees to move into Mallinckrodt. “We don’t have the time to do a branded Asian concept in there over Christmas. Obviously we can’t get construction done in a month,” she said.
Upstairs in Mallinckrodt, the Kosher Cart will not return.
“We did eliminate the Kosher Cart, but it will not eliminate the availability of kosher food,” said Marilyn Pollack, director of Dining Services.
“We had so many students requesting kosher food at [places like] Whispers, so we decided to have kosher food packs available at more units instead of keeping the Kosher Cart open,” Carmody added.
Kosher pre-packs will now be available in the Hilltop Bakery, Center Court, the food court at Mallinckrodt, Whispers, the Village, Bear’s Den and Bear Mart.
Overall, Bon App‚tit is trying to make healthier places to eat on campus.
“Our nutritionist meets with the executive chef several times a year to go over recipes to make sure we can reduce sodium and fat content. We have eliminated all trans-fats from any oil or butter substitute [and] we have low fat mayonnaise,” said Pollack. “We are constantly looking at ways to make food healthier.”