Bon Appetit has instituted several changes this semester in order to accommodate the larger size of the class of 2015 and to avoid long waits and limited seating during lunchtime. In an email to all Wesleyan students on September 2, Bon Appetit outlined the changes to dining on campus and also encouraged students to eat lunch before 12 or after 1 so as to avoid the lunchtime rush at the Usdan University Center (Usdan).
At Weshop, students will be able to buy a meal equivalency lunch during the week. The meal equivalent lunch will include different sandwich options, chips and a fruit. Bon Appetit Resident District Manager Michael Strumpf believes this meal may help redirect some of the lunchtime traffic at Usdan.
“It’s for convenience,” he said. “For not having to wait in line at [Pi Cafe], not having to wait in line at the Usdan café, or to try to get into the Marketplace with the extra number of freshmen that are in attendance this year. We’re looking at a lot of different options to make it less stressful for people to have to find a place to sit. This could help if somebody wants to use it as a convenience.”
Freshman students have already said that they avoided eating at Usdan during lunchtime because of the long lines.
“I did see that the line was [long] and I decided not to [eat at] the Marketplace,” said Grace Nix ’15. “I guess I will choose not to eat at Usdan sometimes because it gets too crowded.”
Upperclassmen will have more flexibility avoiding the rush because of their all declining balance points plan.
“I am a junior now and will probably avoid Usdan during the times when it gets super crowded,” said Sam Friedman ’13. “I have all points and I don’t need to rely on Usdan meals.”
Summerfields will also be updated this year, with a new “Taqueria” menu and later dinner hours. The Taqueria menu allows students to choose different entrée styles and to decide which meats, vegetables, and toppings they want in their meal. A new service called Zingle will also allow students to text in their orders and pick up their food at a separate register to avoid long lines.
“We have a dedicated register for Zingle, so you’re not going to have to wait in line,” Strumpf said. “You’ll go right up and pick up your order. I think maybe this could be of interest to faculty and staff also.”
Bon Appetit staff did a trial run of the Taqueria menu with Butterfields freshmen last Thursday night. They served 210 freshmen from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
“Part of that dry run we did not only trained the staff, but I wanted the freshmen to see what Summerfields was, to see where it is, what it’s about, and introduce them to the new menu,” Strumpf said. “To me that was another opportunity to immediately shift some people out of [Usdan] starting Monday.”
Some students are not worried about the new surge of freshman making lunchtime too stressful. Elizabeth Litvitskiy ’15 said that she believe the fears about overcrowding are overblown.
“I feel like it’s also a concern that we had with bathrooms before we got here, but generally people are on really different schedules so even when it’s really crowded [at Usdan], you might not end up here,” she said. “It’ll work out. I feel like it’s not going to be a major concern for me.”
Starting this Wednesday, a grill menu will be offered outside of Usdan on the terrace. Strumpf believes this will also help alleviate some of the foot traffic in Usdan during the warmer months.
“When the weather’s good and we’re outside for the farmer’s market, we do 200 plus [students], so that’s pretty good, and that’s going to take a lot of pressure off,” he said. “So if we can get through October, grilling on Wednesday, maybe sneak into November a little bit, I think we should be pretty good.”
Besides changes to accommodate more students, Bon Appetit also bought a meat smoker this summer and added more local food into the menu.
“We also added a lot of products from New England Family Farms into Weshop, and all of the burgers we’re going to use are going to be local burgers coming from there,” Strumpf said.