Limited Weekend Dining

By Broadside Asst. News Editor Kevin Loker

The current economic recession paired with a changing student demand has caused Dining Services to alter hours of operation across campus in an effort to do what makes the most “financial sense.”

In effect since the start of the spring semester, Damon’s Express in Student Union Building I is closed on Fridays. Café a la Cart in Enterprise Hall now only operates Monday through Thursday and Southside’s Gold Rush closes its doors on Saturdays and Sundays.

“Everyone is facing the financial crunch right now, and what we all have to do is do what makes the most financial sense,” said Resident District Manager Denise Ammaccapane. “We constantly pull quarter-hour reports to see where people are buying, what people are buying and when people are buying. We monitor that information and when it makes sense, we talk to the university.”

The decision to close Gold Rush on the weekends came after an examination of the difference in sales between Gold Rush and the nearby One-Stop Patriot Shop convenience store. Quarter-hour reports, which are detailed enough to show what specific products are being bought, showed many more students frequented One-Stop on the weekends.

Labor pool also plays into dining’s decisions regarding hours of operations.

“In our case, in terms of the growing options on campus and the resources we have, I like to say it’s like spreading the peanut butter thinner and thinner,” said Ammaccapane.

Sodexo, the caterer under which all dining locations on campus are contracted, employs roughly 400 employees for the academic year.

“Needless to say, we always manage to have food. People can always eat,” said Ammaccapane.

Some students, however, feel otherwise.

"It was really convenient for people to pick up food on the weekends [at Gold Rush] after a long study session or having come from the gym,” said senior global affairs major Kent Zimmerman. “Now we have to pay high prices at Southside to sit down, and the Johnson Center menu is rather sub-par."

Many of the JC Food Court operations run under altered hours, while Freshens, World of Greens, Sub Connection and the Starbucks kiosk at the Express Convenience store are closed on weekends.

“[The limited food selection] really cuts back on your ability to relax on the weekends. They even cut down about half of the stuff at Southside,” said freshman psychology and government and international politics double-major Aaron VanAndel.

The main entrée station, Without Boundaries and Tossed Up are closed within Southside on Saturdays and Sundays.

“I really think you would increase student life if you had something interesting, maybe special selections, a weekend selection—something to spice things up,” said VanAndel.

Though students’ purchases may have altered hours of operation on the weekend for the spring semester, more options are in the works in response to the housing additions on the northern end of campus.

To accompany the approximately 800 beds being added with Housing Unit 7C, work has begun on plans for an “Ike’s II,” a 120-seat restaurant with a “lodge feel” to be the sister of the night-service restaurant located in Presidents Park. In August, Northern Neck will become neighbors with a 50-seat, fully-operational Starbucks.

“I personally cannot wait for the Starbucks to come,” said VanAndel. “That almost makes everything okay.”

Students may voice concerns or opinions regarding hours of operations or menu items by contacting Denise Ammaccapane at denise.ammaccapane@sodexo.com.

“Because we make changes one way, it doesn't mean we can't make changes the other,” said Ammaccapane. “I love to hear from students. If I don't know, I can't fix it.”