To take out food from the Knorr Dining Room, students must now provide a reason to obtain a to-go container, including illness or other engagement.
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After seeing an increase in to-go cup costs, Bon Appétit Management Company cracked down on the enforcement of its previously-set rules regarding students taking food to-go from the dining hall. In this stricter enforcement, the food service company asks students to use to-go cups for beverages only.
“It’s not really a new rule,” Bon Appétit General Manager David Apthorpe said. “It’s just more enforcement of a rule that we’ve had, and it’s pretty standard in all-you-care-to-eat environments.”
Apthorpe said Bon Appétit managers compared to-go cup costs from the first eight weeks of the school year to the first eight weeks of the spring semester. They observed a 20-25 percent increase in to-go cup costs, he said.
“It was gradual. We should have done a better job of enforcing the policy from the get-go, but as a new company, we wanted to test the waters,” Apthorpe said. “We felt that there is a small percentage of people who are blatantly taking food to go in a manner that it’s not designed for. That adds to our costs, and it takes away from the dining experience for a majority of people.”
Apthorpe said one problem has been finding the right way to publish the official rules. In order to educate students on the rules, signs have been printed and hung by the exits in the Knorr Dining Room.
“Take-out cups are for drinks only,” the signs said. “Food of any kind is not intended for them at all. You can take a beverage and a cookie or fruit to go.”
Senior Bon Appétit employee Maylin Brennan said, as a student worker, the hardest part about the strict enforcement has been stopping students at the door.
“There have been verbal altercations with us and our managers,” Brennan said. “One person yelled at our manager and accused us of a marketing ploy. One employee was reduced to tears when a student yelled at her. It’s been really difficult.”
Bon Appétit faced a similar problem earlier this semester after switching from Tazo tea to a new, more upscale tea variety.
“We put out the new tea and $300 worth of new tea was taken in one lunch shift,” Brennan said. “We were literally out of tea for the rest of the month because that was not in our budget. That was when we were told, ‘We have to cut you guys off.’”
Apthorpe said that incidents like this put Bon Appétit staff in a tough spot, as their primary concern is maintaining positive relations with the student body.
“We want to offer this upscale product and increase the cache of things that we offer, but if we can’t keep it in stock and we’re causing shortages, then we’re in a strange place asking, ‘What do we offer, and how do we offer it?’” Apthorpe said. “We also want to have a great relationship with the students because at the end of the day, that’s how we base our performance. We’re not doing this simply to cut costs. The value that we see is a long-term relationship and a good relationship with the students.”
Bon Appétit works with the college administration to make these policies, Apthorpe said. In these efforts, the goal is to promote communal meal time that fosters conversation and strong relationships.
“Rather than people grabbing something to go sit on the lawn or go back to their dorm room or the library, mealtime is part of the college experience,” Apthorpe said. “That’s why the dining hall is set up with big tables for eight to 10 people, so it can foster that discussion.”
In special situations, students are able to receive to-go containers at the front desk, Apthorpe said.
“We do take-out boxes. If you’re sick, you have a sick roommate, or if you have a conflict where you can’t physically get to the dining room,” Apthorpe said. “We want to make exceptions for that, but we also want there to be a reason.”
