Campus Dining has unveiled several new products and services on the Cal Poly campus this quarter. Some changes have been big, such as the switch from Pepsi to Coca-Cola and the addition of the Curbside Grill truck, while others have been major improvements on old favorites, such as the new Wii consoles in Vista Grande Cafe and a 14-foot salad bar in Campus Market that opened Monday.
Sara Markham, an art and design junior, said she loves the salad bar because it’s cheap and she couldn’t get this kind of food at Campus Market before.
“It’s easier now because I’m always down in that part of campus,” Markham said. “Before I had to walk up to Backstage Pizza to get salad.”
Markham also said that she loves the bread bowls for soup and the wide variety of dressings compared to other salad bars on campus.
The salad bar, which turns into an oatmeal bar in the morning and changes items throughout the day, isn’t the only new addition to Campus Market. Campus Dining has brought in new products such as freshly-made teriyaki bowls, paninis, locally-made Indian food and soft-serve ice cream. The store also changed its coffee supplier to Costa Java, a local coffee brewing company.
Another large change was the closure of the Mexican restaurant, Baja Surf, which closed over summer, due to loss of student interest. Campus Dining will instead focus on Vista Grande Cafe, which has a full-service kitchen and a better location, said Cal Poly Corporation director Bonnie Murphy. Vista Grande Cafe is now open for lunch, dinner and late night. It is the most popular restaurant on campus, she said.
“We were able to streamline and combine our resources,” Murphy said. “There’s more business at Vista Grande this year than at Baja Surf and VG’s (combined) last year.”
Vista Grande also has two new Wiis installed in the dining area and big screen televisions so students can watch sports games. Campus Dining is planning on completing the sports bar atmosphere by adding sports memorabilia to the restaurant.
Another long-time campus staple was also radically changed over the summer. Lucy’s Too, an extension of Lucy’s Juice in the University Union, was changed into Dexter Subs. Yukie Nishinaga, Cal Poly Corporation’s marketing manager, said that she and Murphy did extensive research on prices and looked at maps and class schedules in order to determine where to put new restaurants. Nishinaga said that low prices were key for Dexter Subs, as customers, especially faculty and staff, were demanding low-priced menu options.Now there are value meals offered at almost every campus dining option for $5-7.
PolyDeals, an online link to Campus Dining, was created in order to connect with and inform customers about Campus Dining’s establishments on popular social networking Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Started this summer and run by student employees, PolyDeals writes about events and where the new on-campus food truck is and shares coupons and promotions.
Dexter Subs isn’t the only new low-priced option around. Curbside Grill, a food truck much like increasingly popular ones in cities, came about when it became apparent that there was more demand for late night meals. The idea of a food truck for sports games was conceived and was initially supposed to service students looking for a quick breakfast on the way to class as well.
“We asked ‘What are we missing?’” Murphy said. “We had coffee places open at seven, but students were starting classes at seven.”
Breakfast, when the truck is usually stationed by Spanos Stadium, has not been very popular so far, since many students don’t eat or have the time for breakfast, Nishinaga said. The truck offers breakfast burritos, sandwiches and oatmeal in the morning and tacos, sandwiches and fries during lunch, dinner and late-night hours.
Curbside Grill cook Stephen Gasch said that so far dinner traffic been “so-so,” but that lunch by the Construction Innovations building has been very popular.
“Even the rain hasn’t really affected traffic because no one wants to walk up to the Avenue or elsewhere,” Gasch said.
Campus Dining has been placing the truck outside the library at dinner and at Poly Canyon Village in order to give students late-night dining possibilities until about 11:30 p.m, although hours and location have varied to see where the truck works best. Curbside Grill is also present at all sports games on campus.
The switch from Pepsi to Coca-Cola products has also been a big change on campus to bring down prices. Murphy said that both Coca-Cola and Pepsi submitted proposals to Campus Dining, but that Coca-Cola was chosen because it was cheaper.
In addition, little changes have also happened all over campus restaurants and stores.
The interior of 19 Metro Station was redesigned and expanded so there are more menu options and combinations. Video menu screens have been added in 19 Metro Station and Backstage Pizza in order to change menus easily and put up important information and on-campus promotions.
When asked about bringing healthier eating options to campus, Murphy said that the salad bar is a testament to offering healthy options on campus.
“As much as people want burgers, some people don’t,” Murphy said. “A lot of changes have been made because people want fresh, wholesome, good food.”
Murphy said that would probably be more changes seen all around campus throughout the year, but that they will likely roll out slowly due to budget restrictions.
I think it should be mentioned that the Cal Poly Corp has a contract with Coca-Cola.
The statement by Murphy “…Coca-Cola was chosen because it was cheaper” makes no sense if they are obliged under contract to serve Coke, not Pepsi http://calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2009/August/coke.html.
Just some thoughts.
From my understanding, Campus Dining did not have to change from Pespi to Coca-Cola. Campus Dining chose the Coca-Cola contract because it was cheaper than Pepsi.
Shouldn’t the job of Campus Dining be to focus on providing good food at cheap prices? I dont think that adding sports paraphernalia and a bunch of flat screen TVs used as menus(19 Metro) or adding Wiis means cheaper food for students. The meal plans and food prices have been rip offs as long as I have been on campus and due to poor management it seems like they are continuing to go in the wrong direction.
Kids dont eat at VGs because it has Wiis! They eat there because its open late and is the closest food place to some of the dorms.
Cal Poly Corporation is incompetent.
Breakfast at Curbside Grill may be more popular if it was stationed by the library bus stops instead of by the stadium. In the morning, buses are packed with students who do not want to walk all the way down to the stadium for food. Also, it is more likely that students, especially those who park in the General parking lot off of Via Carta, would walk to the truck for breakfast on their way to class if it were parked by the library because it is closer than the stadium or UU.
There should be a salad bar for people who eat on a meal plan. The food at VGs and 19 Metro have close to no vegetarian options with any sort of nutritional value. I have found my self getting sick easier because I am not getting the nutrition I did before. As students, we don’t care about the flat screen TVs and nobody uses the Wii. Campus dining needs to focus on serving healthier food which as we all know is more expensive. But if they did not spend so much money on trying to make their food look better by putting it on a TV instead of a white board, the money could be used for something useful.
Maybe instead of spending thousands on new TV’s for VG’s they could have at least bought new chairs instead of spray painting the old ones which now rub black flakes all over your clothes. And those couches are like sitting on boxes.
Also, Baja Surf had a line out the door last year, but I think the big turnoff was the half hour you would have to wait for the food (location was also hidden too).
I do really like the switch to Coke and think it was the better choice regardless of price. Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Fanta lead Pepsi in overall popularity in the US in their categories (cola, diet cola, lemon lime, and orange). And the fact that the vending machines and fountains work and you can see the buttons now helps a lot since Pepsi just let everything degrade.
There should be more sitdown options up at poly canyon village.
VG’s food sucks, it probably gets more business because it is the only place open on the weekends, and is closer to the dorms than metro. When given a choice (when anything besides VGs is open) my friends and I will always walk the extra 5 mins to metro because VGs is generally repulsive.
Food options now at poly is a whole lot better than what they offered a few years back. The biggest issue food services should tackle now is to cut back on the salt they are use for cooking. I can’t believe how much worse its gotten over the last year. All the hot food being sold are wayyy toooo salty. The variety of the food has gotten better but it’ll kill you with the amount of sodium.
Well once again Campus Dining has figured spending money on electrical trends is more important than having equipment that is safe and in good working condition.Management from the top down is at a minimal in knowledge of concerns of a student and a budget.
Campus Dining needs a woman on the Directors side that can communicate with staff and not the good ol boy network underneath her that just tells her what she wants to hear and throw 40-50 year old man points of view at a menu .Women can converse with the students more and get feed-back because they are moms or able to express needs better than the old men club underneath Big Bonnie.Yeah sports and TV or video games thats what all the students want right,Students usually have lap tops or phones to be caught up on sports or games.Students go to eat and meet friends and network with each other studying,homework or catching up.TV and games are in the background.Good service good food options and a pleasant atmosphere clean and tidy….then its back to class or dorm.Places downtown that have big screen TVs also have good food that students want because they are away from campus and are usually there to get away from school and take a break.Look at the meus downtown look where the students go and survey what they like and why.(Trends)? are the same good quality food,fare price good service.All above need good management!not happening at Campus Dining…………….
This could quite possibly be the dumbest comment I’ve seen posted on a Mustang Daily article.
the guys who work in the curbside grill truck are sexy 😉
Agreed! So dreamy 😀