Full Fare will be replaced by a cafeteria that serves mostly chicken, Collis Cafe will lose its salad bar and entrees and gain a larger selection of baked goods and Food Court will be thoroughly renovated under a proposal suggested by Dartmouth Dining Services Director Peter Napolitano last night.
Napolitano told students of the proposed changes to DDS at the fourth of a series of "roundtable" discussions, in which students meet with DDS administrators to discuss the future of food on campus.
Seven students attended last night's dinner discussion with Napolitano, DDS Associate Director Tucker Rossiter and Full Fare Manager Pete Shanahan.
"Collis, Food Court and Full Fare need new blood," Napolitano said. "I want to get all areas of Dartmouth Dining Services equally liked as opposed to students saying that they prefer Food Court or Collis."
Food Court to be Renovated
Under the proposal DDS would try to revive Food Court by expanding its grill and pizza services and once again offering breakfast again.
Napolitano said the renovations would occur during the summer.
Another proposed change to Thayer will be the addition of an outside patio running from the lobby side entrance to the Full Fare entrance.
"Collis and the Courtyard Cafe have their patios. Thayer needs its patio," Rossiter said.
One day DDS hopes to integrate Food Court, Full Fare and Home Plate so students can mix food items from any of the three, Napolitano said.
"Students could go to Home Plate, get something, go to Food Court, get something else, grab some chicken from Full Fare, and sit down in whichever dining area they choose, including the new patio," he said.
Future Full Fare will be partial to poultry
DDS thinks chicken may be the answer to declining sales in Full Fare.
"We want to change the concept," Rossiter said. "We want to have five standard chicken dishes every day and keep the prices the same all day."
"We want fried chicken, rotisserie chicken ..., chicken fingers and the grilled chicken breast as well as two chicken specials," he added.
Chicken is the most popular food item on campus, Rossiter said. Chicken is so popular pizza, pasta and red meat pale in comparison.
"There will also be a lot of side dishes to support the chicken theme," Rossiter said. "The ribs will also still be provided."
The cafeteria would no longer be known by Full Fare, Napolitano said. But he said no new name has been chosen.
Full Fare has had a steady decline in customers since the mandatory freshman punches were eliminated, Napolitano said.
"We lost 33 percent of our customers from when freshmen had punches," Shanahan added.
"Full Fare has 110 people for lunch and dinner, but they have 200 seats," Napolitano said. "If 200 more people eat there, it frees up seats in the other crowded dining areas like Food Court."
Napolitano complemented Shanahan for creating innovative programming, like meals based around a certain theme, but said they "have not reaped much benefit."
Students at the roundtable discussion expressed concern that the introduction of a constant food theme, a stark contrast to the current rotating entrees, might drive away regular diners at Full Fare.
But Napolitano said the chicken proposal will bring fresh faces to the cafeteria.
While regulars may no longer want to eat at Full Fare constantly, having people rotate to other dining options can only be good for business, he added.
Sunday brunch, the most popular meal at Full Fare, will be eliminated.
"Brunch will move to Food Court since we are adding the new grill space there," Napolitano said. "The Courtyard Cafe can set that up as well. And Collis will have its expanded bakery and coffee line."
Punches to be eliminated
DDS's plans are, in part, an attempt to recuperate business loss to the Hanover Green Card, an alumni-owned business that allows customers to use a declining balance account at off-campus restaurants.
To make the "punch" a more attractive option, Napolitano proposed increasing the Meal Equivalency Transfer amount and will give students a three week "grace period" to try the new punch system
"There will be no more meal plan after this year," he said. "After next year, all there will be is DBA."
"We want you to choose the DDS Card, not the Green Card," Rossiter said.
"We fell short last year," Napolitano said. "When school opened up, other than the new meal system, there was nothing new offered."
The fact that this coincided with the introduction of the Green Card was deadly to DDS, Napolitano said.
"We lost sales to the Green Card," he said.
Napolitano said DDS food is good enough to compete with off-campus restaurants.
"It used to be that there was a very high turnover rate because there were huge vats in the kitchens that had food prepared at four o'clock for seven o'clock," he said. "Now we prepare the food in front of you, and we have sacrificed speed for quality."
"Food can be good, it can be fast and it can be cheap," Napolitano said. "Pick two. If it is good and fast, it cannot be cheap. If it is fast and cheap, it cannot be good."
Napolitano said DDS, which is self-supporting and financially independent from the College, has enough money to complete the renovations.
"We put money in a reserve fund to put us through hard times," he said. "We have been placing enough that we have funds available to us for this."
"I want to diversify food service," he said. "I do not want to merely have homogenous cafeteria lines."
Other facilities may be changed
Few facilities will be exempt from DDS's proposed changes.
Collis's salad bar and entrees will be eliminated, and a bakery and coffee shop will be added.
"We need the approval of the architects and Collis administration for space," Napolitano said. "There will be wholesale changes at Collis."
If more students start to frequent Collis after the changes, DDS hopes to allow the Cafe to stay open until 11 p.m..
"Business will dictate what we can do at Collis," Rossiter said.
DDS may also change the Lone Pine Tavern to capitalize on its unexpected success.
Napolitano said Lone Pine was not designed as a place to dine, but as a place to provide limited food and drink.
"The manager developed his own following for dinner," he said. "It created a whole new set of problems."
Napolitano said Lone Pine may begin to serve quick lunches, such as soups and sandwiches.
DDS will be taking over food service when the Chinese restaurant located at the Dartmouth Medical School, Napolitano said. This will give students working in Burke, Gilman and Sudikoff Laboratories new dining options.
"There will be several lunch options available to students who take classes in that area of campus," Rossiter said.
