The restructuring plans include layoffs.
DDS will reevaluate how students purchase items at Topside, Redman said. DDS is considering eliminating Topside dollars from student meal plans, which would require students to make Topside purchases using DASH, cash or another pricing alternative, Redman said.
The change could make items from Topside less expensive, Redman said. Because most Topside purchases are currently handled as part of the DDS meal plan, prices at the store reflect overall DDS costs. If Topside purchases were charged separately, other dining venues' overhead costs would no longer affect the convenience store's prices, Redman said.
"I could make it cheaper for students and I think [it] could even compete head-to-head with CVS," he said.
A student employee at Topside who wished to remain anonymous said changing the Topside pricing system could hurt business.
"Already, I feel a lot of people will not buy an item simply because it is on DASH," the student, who requested anonymity so as not to upset his superiors, said. "Just the fact that someone would have to use cash or DASH to buy something at Topside, outside of DBA that's built into our tuition, I feel no one would end up liking that system."
The College has also decided not to renew Lone Pine's restaurant and bar license, as the facility has been losing money for several years, Redman said. The venue has always had low alcohol sales, and last year, only about $2,000 of $3,300 of alcohol sales at Lone Pine came from students, he said.
"That certainly doesn't indicate a demand to me," Redman said.
DDS will also rearrange the layout of the Collis Cafe serving area to make service more efficient and effective, particularly during Late Night at Collis, Redman said.
The College will also close the Courtyard Cafe in the Hopkins Center during the Summer term, Redman said, because the revenue earned does not cover labor costs. Of the Courtyard Cafe's $3 million in gross sales last year, only a quarter of a million was generated during the summer months, Redman said.
"We worked all year to recoup the losses from the summer," Redman said. "It just made no sense."
The decision to close the cafe was particularly difficult given its potential impact on employees, Redman said. The 15 people employed by the Courtyard Cafe will now work only nine months of the year, rather than 12, thereby losing three months of income, Redman said.
Some employees opted to accept the new nine-month schedule. Others will be eligible for employment at different DDS venues during the summer until 12-month positions become available, Redman said.
DDS briefly considered shortening the hours of Food Court in the evenings in response to student suggestions on the Student Assembly budget survey, Redman said, but found that late night hours generated considerable revenue.
"When we actually started doing the dollar analysis, based on the amount of customers that come to Thayer every night, it's actually paying for itself and keeping costs down elsewhere," Redman said.
Shirley Clark, the lead counter-worker at Cafe North, said she will be transferred to another DDS venue after the cafe closes, but that she still shares her coworkers' fears about employment.
"When I came here, Dartmouth was like a family and they took care of each other," Clark said. "I know we have to make money so we get more students here, but as you look at the numbers, it really makes you wonder and get scared."
Redman said DDS regularly reviews its business model to determine which establishments are financially viable over the long term, citing the closing of a smoothie bar that used to operate outside of Kresge Fitness Center as an example of previous restructuring.
"Athletics wanted to have some kind of a food station down there, and at the end of day, it didn't work out," Redman said.
Associate director of DDS David Newlove and DDS director Tucker Rossiter were unavailable for comment by press time.
