Dining hours and eating options received a major overhaul this summer in preparation for the Fall 2010 semester. Chartwells dining services and St. John’s worked together to implement new meal plans ideas as well as upgrades to existing dining establishments.
The early closings of St. Vincent’s Diner and Montgoris this semester where done in an effort to consolidate Chartwell’s energy emissions, particularly late at night. According to Gina Capetanakis, Marketing Manager for Chartwells at St. Johns, scaling back on late night eateries was also done to economize businesses.
“Having too many locations open late at night and all at once is just spreading people around,” said Capetanakis. “If you have five places to eat and only one hundred customers then you’re just spreading the people around.”
Several new dining concepts are now a part of the cafeteria located in the bottom floor of the D’Angelo Center. Blue Agave is a southern western eatery offering Mexican cuisine. At the Chop’d Salad Station, students can now order Boar’s Head signature sandwiches.
The Marillac cafeteria now offers gyros at Halal New York and wings at Atomic Wings.
Capetanakis said that results from student surveys indicated that the coffee in the Library Café was “too bitter.” In an effort to make the café a more enjoyable dining experience, the coffee brand has been switched to Seattle’s Best Coffee.
Other additions include new panini presses in the Boar’s Head Deli locations in Marillac and the Law School Café, as well as the planned installations of new induction cookers for the omelet stations in Montgoris.
In an effort to keep promoting a sustainable campus, new energy-efficient Coca-Cola refrigerators and vending machines have been installed campus wide.
Meal exchanges are now possible Monday through Friday, an extension from the Monday through Thursday restrictions used last year. The time block for meal exchanges has shifted to 5:00 p.m. through 10:00 p.m. as compared to last year’s 3:30 p.m. through 8:30 p.m. time period.