With the recent news that Ursa’s Cafe will stop serving food starting Nov. 24, it’s safe to say that yet another plan to reinvigorate the previously popular Bear’s Den alternative has failed. Soon, no student on campus will remember Ursa’s as it was in its heyday, when students swarmed the crepe station and hot chocolate bar for late-night snacks.

Ursa’s has been losing gobs of money this semester as few students purchase the Mediterranean food served there, but losing it as a dining venue entirely doesn’t seem like an optimal solution either. The Mediterranean niche is clearly not a financially sustainable one on the South 40, at least in the way it is currently presented, but Ursa’s can still find a niche that would make it successful and students happy with the increased dining choices.

One such idea would be as an alternative to brunch on weekends. For students living on the 40 who want to avoid the expensive brunch selection, the only recourse at the moment is walking to main campus or the Village or waiting in the long Cherry Tree Cafe line full of other people with the same idea.

Because all of the Bear’s Dean stations are closed until 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, weekend breakfast and lunch hours have the fewest dining options available on the 40 of any time during the week, which doesn’t seem to make much sense given that most freshmen and sophomores are likely to be located on the 40 during these hours. Marketing Ursa’s as an alternative would attract customers; many restaurants make enough money on weekends to sustain them for the entire week, which could prove a real-world model for Ursa’s.

Another simple change that could make Ursa’s a more viable dining establishment on the 40 would be simply extending its hours. The cafe currently closes at midnight, which is early for college students even on weeknights, let alone Friday and Saturday evenings. Bear’s Den has the late-night hangout market cornered, but returning some old favorites like brownie sundaes to Ursa’s’ menu could get students coming to eat, and pushing its closing time to 2 a.m. would make students more likely to stay to study, talk or even play board games with friends.

Ursa’s has been massively understaffed for years; the cashier doubled as a food server, which backed up lines and was at least part of the reason students stopped visiting Ursa’s in droves in the first place. Adding a separate, dedicated cashier to expedite the purchasing process, finding a niche food market students would utilize as a welcome addition to the dining options on campus, and extending hours to accommodate the night-owl patterns of most college students could all help reestablish Ursa’s as a prominent dining venue on the 40.

Or at the very least, these measures could help the cafe make some money for once.