Summerfields "express lane" to open Monday

This week (presumably beginning Monday), Summerfields is adding an "express lane" for food to go. It will accept only points, but it sounds more convenient than waiting in line if you're in a rush. No word yet on the menu or where specifically it will be located.

It's a pretty interesting move, considering Summerfields already does takeout (and, unlike Usdan, doesn't charge 50 cents extra and has it for both lunch and dinner); perhaps they've realized the Usdan Cafe's shortcomings as the primary "to-go" venue. Does anyone (Jen? Becky?) have figures on traffic at the Cafe or takeout at lunch at the Marketplace? It'd be interesting to see if this is in response to diminished traffic at Usdan.

Campus Dining Schedule

Sorry if this post is especially inane, as my brain doesn't seem to be working very well right now, but this is when dining stuff opens:

Saturday 1/17:

• Red and Black Café (regular hours)

Sunday 1/18:

• Usdan Marketplace (dinner only)
• WesWings (dinner only)
• WeShop (2pm-6pm only)
  

Monday 1/19:

• Usdan Café
• WeShop (regular hours)
  
• Pi Café (9am-6pm only)

Tuesday 1/20:

• nothing new
  

Wednesday 1/21:

• Late Night
• Summerfields
• Daniel Family Commons
• Pi Café (regular hours)
  

Guest Mealz 4 Realz

Some useful information (if a bit late) that it seems most people were unaware of and that's conspicuously absent from BA's dining service overview. According to Dean Rick Culliton, you can now use two meals per semester as guest meals. That's about 103 fewer meals than you should be able to use to treat others, but as upperclassmen undoubtedly recall, there were no guest meals at all last year. So for those of you who are out of points, despair not!

On a related note, hopefully I'm not the only one who finds it moderately disturbing (on multiple counts) that this information was never shared with us and that I was only able to find it out through an e-mail on the parents' listserv...

[EDIT] Looks like this was a bit premature. According to Dean Rick (comment #11), this was something that was discussed by the Dining Committee but ultimately not implemented.

[edit by Ben - 1:30 pm 12/12]

Thanksgiving break dining schedule

Bon Appetit has posted the 2008 Thanksgiving Break dining schedule. Check it out to make sure you're not going hungry (and click the image to make it bigger/readable):

Also, the Star & Crescent is open tomorrow (Tuesday 11/25) for lunch but not dinner - the menu is BBQ Chicken/ Tofu, Collard Greens, Creamy Polenta, and Coconut Cookies.

Non-BA-operated: WesWings is open regular hours on Tuesday, and returns for dinner the Sunday we get back. Red & Black Cafe is also open regular hours on Tuesday, and returns for regular hours the Sunday we get back.

Summary: Only the Usdan Marketplace and WesWings are open for dinner on Tuesday night, and nothing else on campus is open until the Sunday we get back for dinner, except Red & Black for lunch Sunday. Yeah, if you're staying on campus, that pretty much sucks. Neon and Cafe Ology will be your friends?

PETA's Most Veg-Friendly College of 2008: Last Call To Vote

Wesleyan is still battling it out against American University for the title of PETA's "Most Vegetarian Friendly College" of 2008. While both American and Wesleyan are run by Bon Appetit, the title would surely help to lure more prefrosh to Wesleyan, so go ahead and vote one last time. Voting ends November 17th.

Bon Appetit Offers PETA2 Voting Incentives

All I know about this PETA2 vegetarian contest thing is that Wesleyan is somehow winning in its group (we just beat SUNY Fredonia), and I would assume that people other than Bon Appetit higher-ups are voting for us.

Bon Appetit employee Bernice Laille says:

"It's a victory in itself to have made it this far in the contest, but now the competition is really kicking into high gear! We're facing off against Ohio University, who has really rallied the student body through on-campus email promotions. We must definitely want to pull out all of the stops to help drive in as many votes from everyone as soon as possible before the third round ends!"

And in case you hadn't already noticed from a trip to Usdan this week, Bon Appetit really wants us to win:So if you'd like to continue this victory streak and prove our veg-friendly prowess against Ohio University, or want an an apparent chance to win a $100 Best Buy gift certificate, vote here, the third round ends Wednesday at 5.

Rocktoberfest

Bernice Laille of Bon Appetit writes in to remind us that Rocktoberfest is coming up at dinner this Thursday, Oct. 16. The faculty band Busted Roses, including special musical guest Michael Roth, will be performing from 6:00-9:00. BA will be serving a German-style meal including "Best of the Wurst Sausages," Spätzle, Sauerkraut, Blaukraut, potato salad, and root beer kegs. Be there or be rechtwinklig!

Date: Thursday, Oct. 16
Time: Dinner 5:00-8:00 PM; Busted Roses performance 6:00-9:00 PM
Place: Usdan Marketplace

Meeting Michael Strumpf (and more options at the Cafe!)

Today I met our dining director, Michael Strumpf, who has replaced Delmar Crim. We discussed both the recent Wespeak I wrote and the blog comments about the new addition of hot soup at the Cafe, as well as new options. I'm glad to say that our conversation went great and I think that Michael brings some promise to B.A. at Wesleyan.

Just to give you a little background, Michael has worked with Bon Appetit for 10 years. He worked on the bidding contract that went on 3 years ago, and admits that the current way in which the Marketplace and Cafe are set up does not match some of the original goals. However, he is very concerned with the quality of the food and making the Wesleyan students happy. He has agreed to the following things at the Usdan Cafe:

• *As early as next week there will be new types of vegetarian and vegan sandwiches that have greater sources of protein. This may include tofu, tempeh, or beans.
• * He is going to try to bring back the black bean burger that comes in a more "attractive package" than last year's tinfoil, and that will retain heat
• * He is also going to look into having healthy, hot "to-go" meals that can be microwavable. However, this is more complicated since it will require more labor power/hours from the workers.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact Michael via e-mail (mstrumpf@cafebonappetit.com) or phone number (x3060). And for all of those naysayers, I think this goes to show we can make an impact via the power of the pen (or the blog).

A Message from Wesleyan Dining

From an e-mail:

Wesleyan Dining by Bon Appetit is listening to students!

Bon Appetit is listening to students and Summerfields has implemented distinct menu changes since Monday, September 15th.
Improved selections of meal bundles:

• A home cooked style dinner available Monday to Friday with a beverage and dessert piece. The dinner entrée is a special of the day with a menu available online here.
• Expanded vegetarian sandwich choices
• Added chicken sandwich choices
• Enhance burger choices with cheese available on request

Other changes to the menu:

• A freshly baked roll is served with any salad entrees.
• Option to add grilled chicken or grilled marinated tofu to your salad.
• Dressing on the side available on request.
• Guacamole is customary with any purchase of quesadilla, along with sour cream and salsa.

Bon Appetit will continue to evolve and fine tune the menu to meet with students’ taste and needs. We invite you to revisit Summerfields and seek out its improved menu as well as enjoy all that Wesleyan Dining has to offer.

Summerfields to get better?

Jen Liebschutz '11, chair of the WSA's Finance and Facilities committee, sends in some info about upcoming dining changes. Most of them seem to relate to Summerfields:

Recently, we had our first Dining Committee with Bon Appetit Regional Manager Michael Strumph, Wesleyan administrators, union workers, and students and we focused on addressing concerns about Summerfields.

Here are some solutions we came up with:

Starting Monday, Summerfields will have a chef-determined special of the day for dinner Monday-Friday available as a meal "bundle". The chicken sandwich and grilled vegetable or portobello sandwich will also be added as meal bundles in addition to four they already have.

In the near future, Summerfields will have a "create-your-own" salad option where you can choose what toppings and protein you want on your salad. Bon Appetit has also promised to work on a method to improve how you know when your entree is ready, and they're also looking into adding sushi and other creative entrees to the menu. The Dining Committee will continue to meet and discuss dining issues and improvements, so if you have any further suggestions, ideas, or observations about any dining issues, please email me at jliebschutz@wes.

While the changes seem far from perfect, props to Bon Appetit and the Dining Committee for making what seems to be an earnest effort to listen to students and meet student needs.

And props to students who have chimed in with their suggestions so far - let's keep on actually talking about how to make the improvements we need instead of just complaining.

Bon Appétit's New Delmar

Bon Appétit has apparently hired one Michael Strumpf to take Delmar Crim's place as the Resident District Manager at Wesleyan this year. No photo yet, but we can judge him on his Googleable work history.

Strumpf is coming from a former job as the General Manager for Bon Appétit at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he was instrumental in creating that school's Farm to Fork local-food-based menu. He seems to have done a generally Delmar-type job in his interactions with the student body there.

From Southern Maryland News in March 2007:

Michael Strumpf, general manager of Bon Appetite at St. Mary's College, makes sure the food he serves comes from local growers like the Funny Farm. He is also attempting to get the local Amish to raise and slaughter cattle specifically for the college. Every year he organizes the school's "eat local challenge." - the idea is to serve only local foods for an entire week.

"We have these bio-degradable plastic cups made out of corn," said Strumpf holding one up at the crowded dining-hall furnished with wooden beams and lined by large windows.

Ok, Bon Appétit did all this locally-grown stuff for us when Delmar was here, but Amish-fresh beef? Funny Farm? Locavore diets aren't nearly as endearing in Middletown as they apparently are in a 50-mile radius of St. Mary's College.

It's official: new meal plan

E-mails were just sent out informing us about the new meal plan we hinted at earlier. Here's the official word:

Here is a summary of the meal plan information for 2008-09:

The following plans are available to freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors:

• Block 210 MEALS/$100 POINTS PER SEMESTER (averages 14 meals per week)
• Block 165 MEALS/$275 POINTS PER SEMESTER (averages 11 meals per week)
• Block 135 MEALS/$475 POINTS PER SEMESTER (averages 9 meals per week)
• Block 285 MEALS/$50 POINTS PER SEMESTER (averages 19 meals per week) (with an additional cost of $300 per semester)
  

The following plan is only available to sophomores, juniors or seniors:

• Block 105 MEALS/$675 POINTS PER SEMESTER (averages 7 meals per week)

The following plan is only available to juniors and seniors:

• ALL DECLINING BALANCE POINTS / $1,478 POINTS PER SEMESTER

Another note made in the e-mail concerned Summerfields:

In addition to the changes in the meal plans, Bon Appetit will be introducing a new menu at Summerfields which will include a variety of grill items, quesadillas, wraps, soups and salads which will be available as a meal or by using points. More information will follow on this over the summer.

I'm going to try to reserve judgment until we get more info, but I'm concerned; I hope that they don't change the restaurant-feel of the place (its primary appeal) to make it more cafeteria-like, and that "grill items, quesadillas, wraps, soups and salads" aren't all it's going to have to offer.

Next year's "Meal Plan Selection" options?

Ben Cohen '10 tips in that if you check your E-Portfolio, there's a link to a "Meal Plan Selection" option. The choices seem to be:

• Block 105 Meals / 675 Points
• block 135 Meals / 475 Points
• Block 165 Meals / 275 Points
• Block 210 Meals / 100 Points
• Block 285 Meals / 50 Points
  
• All Declining Balance Plan - 0 Meals /1478 Points

Note that there's an additional fee for selecting the 285 Meal plan.
No word yet on whether this is officially what's going to be happening in the fall or just a bug in our portfolios.

Cohen also points out:

For the sake of comparison, Aramark's block meal plan was 165 meals/165 points (110 fewer than BA's 165-meal plan), which I believe amounted to about 11 meals a IIRC (I usually ate at Davenport 3 times a week, and I didn't run out of meals). I figured this could be useful...

Weshop Weekend Hours

WSA Dining Committee chair Becky Weiss '10 is working with Bon Appetit to tweak the hours Weshop will be open on weekends next year, and wants to hear your thoughts.

Please answer this quick survey question about Weshop hours. Note that we can only shift the hours around - we do not have the option of simply adding more.

Weshop is currently open 2-6 on Fridays and Saturdays and 12-12 on Sundays. A few years ago, the Saturday hours were extended from 6 to 8, but very few people took advantage of the additional time. A poll like this is hardly scientific, but we're hoping you'll use it to give us an idea of whether it makes sense to adjust the Friday hours.

Suggestions welcome in the comments!

Update: There was a mistake in the original poll and it had to be reset. Please recast your votes! Sorry about that.

Usdan-to-Go Returns

Usdan's bringing back the to-go option, with minor strings attached:

In response to student input, the WSA has worked with Bon Appetit to develop and implement a trial “to-go” program from the Usdan Marketplace beginning Monday, April 14. The trial program has been designed to respond to students’ interest in taking food outside during the nicer weather and recognizes the limitations of the café’s current offerings. The program will be available M-F during lunch.

When you have your ID swiped as you come in to the marketplace, please let the cashier know you would like a “to go” box and you will have 5-10 minutes to collect your lunch in a recyclable “to go” container and a disposable cup. As you exit the marketplace, you can pick up your ID at the cashier and take your lunch with you.

In order to cover the costs of the to-go containers there will be a 50 cent charge in addition to the swipe of a meal or $7.50 in points or cash. The WSA and Bon Appetit ask for your assistance in making this program successful by taking only you what you plan to eat and not wasting food.

The program will be reviewed on a weekly basis during the rest of the semester to determine the feasibility of continuing the program and the WSA will continue to work with Bon Appetit to develop improved retail options for next year.

Sounds like a plan! Please don't botch this.

Delmar's got a green thumb

How did all my Google searching fail to turn this one up?

It turns out that Delmar Crim, Resident District Manager of Bon Appétit, not only has a knack for resolving Usdan dining catastrophes, but he's also got a green thumb. Check out the Crim Garden, which Delmar apparently cultivated while he was Senior Executive Chef at Cornell.

We're big fans of Delmar. Check out some of our previous coverage:

• Facebook group: similarities between Crim, Chuck Norris
• Bon Appétit discusses onions, business in outer space
• Delmar warns against stealing hand fruit from Usdan
• Delmar, Bon Appétit negotiate with alien invaders
• Delmar writes to Wesleying about labor issues

(Thanks, Anonymous.)

Burritos are back! Along with other changes...

Among other changes that our favorite Bon Appétiter, Delmar Crim, mentioned in his recent email to students is the return of burritos! Here's to hoping they're as good as the ones they had on Thursdays at the kosher station.

Apparently the servery at Usdan has been updated over break, with new stations added. Delmar says we'll see:

• A new Belgian Waffle station open during all dining periods.


• A new salad bar and sandwich station, featuring "vegan cold salads, salad offerings, and make your own deli sandwich".


• The burrito station, which will also have "sizzlin' salads and tacos".

The Café place downstairs has reportedly also been revamped, and will now feature sandwiches, salads, entrées, New York-style pizza, and soups.

And though all meals are now all-you-can-eat for one fee, Delmar also mentions that we'll only be able to take one piece of "hand fruit" with us when leaving the dining area. So watch out for the fruit police, or they may seize your extra banana. (Though if past observations are any indication, enforcement will be lax.)

I'm hungry

Bon Appetit has apparently decided to listen to us and make breakfast and lunch "All You Care to Eat." This means that meals will now be usable for lunch and dinner at the Usdan Marketplace. Breakfast will be priced at $5.50, and lunch at $7.50 (Dinner stays at $9.25). This also apparently means that the Cafe downstairs will offer a bit more variety in the way of food.

Also, Bon Appetit is asking everyone to return all of the dishes and silverware we've borrowed throughout the semester in an effort to reduce the quantity of disposable plastic utensils in an event they're calling 'Plate Amnesty Week'. There should be bins scattered around dorm halls and near the entrance to the Marketplace from the 17th to the 21st (right now).

Spring Points Spreadsheet

In the midst of Bon Appetit's "power of the spoon" campaign, I have updated the points spreadsheet for the spring semester.  Suprisingly, I found that it is theoretically possible to eat 14 meals a week at Usdan and not run out of points.  In fact, you'll have a whopping $2.05 per week to spend on late night, cereal for breakfast at weshop, yummy drinks at pi cafe, and other essentials.

A disclaimer: I am a math major, so I've made this rather complicated, but I've tried to also make it super user-friendly.  Please, give me suggestions on how to improve it.

To do the magic 14-meals-at-usdan, you sign up for the 8-meals plan, pay for 7 dinners and 1 brunch a week with meals, and all the other lunches and one brunch with points.  This will require a lot of telling the cashier how you want to pay for your meal, because otherwise you'll spend your meals early in the week on lunch and end up paying for the more expensive dinners with points.  

As far as the spreadsheet, there are quite a few options, not all of which are necessary to use.  The only thing you really have to do is put in your starting number of points in the appropriate cell.  As last semester, the starting point values for each meal plan are listed on the right.  

If you want to get into some fancier calculations, you can tell the spreadsheet that you want to keep spending points at the same rate over spring break (the default is to assume that you don't spend any), or you can tell it how many meals per week you want to buy with points, and it'll tell you how much you can afford to spend on each meal.  If it's halfway through the semester and you want to figure out how to ration your remaining points, just change the date at the top of the spreadsheet.  

At any rate, the only things you should edit are the cells that are outlined in black.  Everything else will adjust itself automagically.  

And yes, I do realize that this is a bit early; I plan on re-posting it next semester.  

PS: It's really gross outside.  See tags.

PPS: already I've encountered a problem.  If you try to adjust the date and don't specify a year, then it assumes that you're talking about 2007, and then acts all weird.  So make sure to put in a year, until 2008 starts, when this will no longer be a problem.

Bon Appétit gives us breakfast! At midnight!

Sarah McGowan of Bon Appétit Management Co. sends us details about next week's Midnight Breakfast:

Take a break from studying and join your friends at the Marketplace for a late-night breakfast! All the traditional breakfast favorites and more! Use a 6-point meal swipe for an all-you-care-to-eat selection.

Date: Tuesday, Dec. 11
Time: 11:30 PM - 1:00 AM
Location: The Marketplace at Usdan

Ms. McGowan notes that all Wesleyan students are welcome, and that food will be served with help from faculty and staff.