The Rathskeller
Courtesy of The Bona Venture
BY: CHRIS DOODY, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Some students said they are deterred from the Rathskeller’s new changes, due to its new rotating menu. Others said they are unable to dine there at all because of health concerns like common allergies.
Before this year, between 8 and 10 p.m. students could use their meal swipes in the Rathskeller to get one of eight different food options. This year, the menu was changed to rotate between the items, with four being available each night.
“Last year the Rathskeller had a much larger menu and now it’s on rotation; I have allergies so now there are weeks that I can barely eat there,” said Ava Blatto-Vallee, a sophomore education studies major.
Workers said they were unable to make certain meal adjustments, such as removing cheese or other allergens.
Nicole Clark, the general manager for Aramark — the company that provides food for St. Bonaventure’s campus — said these changes to the Rathskeller menu should have a positive effect on student dining.
“Initial feedback is that students like the addition of the full meal options daily that now have different options for side choices and also are glad that we revised the initial menu to include more of the previous Rathskeller items that can be customized,” said Clark.
However, some students preferred going to the Rathskeller last year; more students liked the menu because of its consistency.
“Overall, [the rotating menu] deters people from going,” said Jordyn Schake, a sophomore childhood education and special education major. “Last year so many more people would go, but this year not many people are going because the [rotating] menu doesn’t have as many options for everybody,”
Last year, students would go to the Rathskeller to just hang out with their friends and be able to get normal bar food, but now there are very limited options deterring people from going here instead of just going to the Hickey or going out to eat, said both Blatto-Vallee and Schake.
However, the goal of these changes were to quickly serve more students, not get more through the doors, Clark said.
“Regarding menu changes we also heard many concerns on lengthy weight time and the changes were made in order to also improve our ability to service the 200 plus students during the meal exchange time more efficiently,” said Clark.
It is still early in the semester and adjustments to please students are plausible, said Clark.
“Initial feedback is that students like the addition of the full meal options daily that now have different options for side choices,” said Clark.
Though Clark states she has seen positive results, none of the interviewed students shared this view.
“Being that it is so early in the semester and because we are making changes frequently based on feedback received, it is difficult to gauge student body satisfaction,” said Clark.
doodycd24@bonaventure.edu
