Fordham Food Service Introduces Changes, Additions to Offerings

The long-awaited and much-discussed replacement to the Ramskellar will open, it has been confirmed, in the upcoming weeks, pending final work on electrical hook-ups in the McGinley Center basement.

"We plan to have it open around the third week of September," Brian Poteat, general manager of Food Services said, adding that most of the structural work had been completed inside the space.

Clearing up months of rumors, Poteat said that Dagger John's, the full-service restaurant currently located in the McGinley basement, will remain open, and that the new location will feature an expanded version of the menu currently in use at that location. Instead, the servery portion of the Ramskellar and the Annex will be shut down in favor of what Poteat describes as a "Panera-like" food service location, referring to the upscale quick-service chain specializing in soups and sandwiches.

This new eatery, he said, was developed in response to market research indicating that students wanted a cafeteria-swipe equivalent in McGinley Center that was open later than the Ultimate Dining Marketplace. While the current cafeteria is open only until 8 p.m. on weekdays and 7 p.m. on weekends, the new location, Poteat said, will be open until 9 p.m.

Students will be able to pay at this location with cash, declining balance on their meal plans or cafeteria swipes normally reserved for the Marketplace, thus giving more flexibility than other on-campus locations in terms of payment options.

In discussing the new location, Poteat referred to a more recent Sodexo and Food Services initiative: the "Take Five" section of the Marketplace. This area, located to the right of the Marketplace's main entrance, allows students to use a cafeteria swipe to get a salad or sandwich, a beverage, fruit, a snack and a dessert.

Calling the new dining option "very successful," Poteat pointed to it as an indication that students' dining habits are likely to support the new McGinley Center basement location.

Poteat also praised the Campbell Café, the brand new coffeehouse location in Campbell Hall, saying that Food Services planned on expanding the program at that location to meet students' needs and desires in terms of foodstuffs for apartment-style living.

In response to some confusion regarding the modified Starbucks menu at the Café, Poteat said that the location is subject to a licensing agreement "essentially the same" as those governing similar "We Proudly Serve Starbucks" locations in Barnes & Noble and other retailers. However, he said, Starbucks has recently changed its licensing agreements, restricting further the use of Starbucks names and products in licensed locations. Most notably, such locations may not refer to "Frappuccinos" and cannot include "tall," Starbucks's term for a small beverage, as an option for certain beverages.

As for changes in other on-campus dining locations, Poteat said that Food Services and Sodexo next had plans for the Student Deli. Although no plans are finalized, discussed options include a national brand becoming available in the basement of Queen's Court.

Moving to the Lincoln Center campus, Poteat noted that, partially in response to the "Take Five" system in the McGinley Center, the Jazzman's coffee stand in the lobby of the Leon Lowenstein Building is being replaced by a Simply-to-Go location, where students will be able to use declining balance to purchase salads, sandwiches and other similarly prepackaged items. Additionally, he noted that while changes are made where and when possible at that campus, such as the expansion of the Sandella's menu, large-scale changes are logistically difficult, as there are few on-campus dining alternatives.