Members of the Housing Services Committee attending a meeting today regarding a recommendation from the student body about a vendor to go into the retail space in Parcel 18. With Wi-Fi internet access covering all of the Curry Student Center, we're taking this opportunity to blog live and post updates throughout the meeting.
6:10 PM: The total survey results came back in alignment with the residential votes having Panera Bread and Jamba Juice.
6:19 PM: The committee talked about the current Au Bon Pain contract, which ends in 2011 but gives a five year option to Au Bon Pain for extension. The initial contract was a ten year contract with two options for five year extensions, and we are currently in the first five year extension. Because of this contract, it is not likely that Au Bon Pain can be replaced until 2016.
6:22 PM: A discussion took place about vendors and their hours. The City of Boston has limits on how late businesses can be open, and an issue is that some vendors may not want to be open late. Panera traditionally closes around 9 or 10 PM, but students want an option that is open all night or at least until 2 or 3 AM.
6:24 PM: The square footage in Parcel 18 is a total of 3400 square feet, so one option is having two vendors. Some places are only around 1500 square feet, so fitting say a Johnny Rockets and a Jamba Juice is possible.
6:26 PM: We talked about the location on Columbus Avenue and how students may not want to travel to the other side of campus. However, with 1200 people in Parcel 18 plus the other students in the area from buildings like Davenport A, and Coventry. It's interesting because when there are more things to go to, people might actually go there. We also talked about possible issues related to bad groups of people from the Roxbury area that might end up coming to the vendor place.
6:30 PM: It was brought up that people are able to get burgers and fries all over the place -- but then it was mentioned that people said they want a place for a good burger.
6:32 PM: A major point in the discussion was that Panera requires the most space. If we take a Panera, we won't be able to have another vendor. The chair of the meeting suggested that we need to look beyond the numbers from students and look at other aspects. It was mentioned that some options provide more variety. It also was mentioned that some options are similar -- for example, Cosi and Panera are similar in their offerings of salad, soup, and sandwiches.
6:37 PM: Here's the vote count from the student survey:
- Johnny Rockets: 38
- Cheeburger Cheeburger: 15
- Fuddruckers: 15
- Panera: 60
- Viga: 25
- Cosi: 23
- Jamba Juice: 42
- Other: 13
6:41 PM: The chair (Vice President Ryan Fox of the Student Government Association) brought up that a recommendation might not be made tonight, as he isn't sure he is comfortable. It was brought up that the comments from the survey need to be looked at, because students made comments. A lot of students apparently have said they want a heathy option and then a "burger" option as well.
6:43 PM: Vice President Fox expressed that he believed the survey was misleading. However, after a review of the documents it was found that this wasn't the case and there was consistency. It was brought up that Panera is the leader of the survey, and that if students want it, that we should support a Panera. It was also brought up that a similar number of students asked for one healthy option such as Jamba Juice and one other. The chair suggested that the pairings and the intent be looked at.
6:47 PM: The idea of satisfying the most people was discussed. The goal isn't to please people who want a certain option, but rather to please the highest number of people.
6:50 PM: I raised a question about the survey and how choices were limited by the committee. We discussed the possibility of maybe doing another survey. There seems to be a debate in the room about following the survey result of Panera coming out on top versus following the desire of many students to see two options.
6:52 PM: Debate continued about the survey and the data interpretation. The recommendation from the student body needs to be done "as soon as possible" per request of Marina Iannalfo, the Dean of Campus Life. The meeting ended so everyone can go to the GrandMarc presentation.
This concludes the live update... feel free to post your comments, thoughts, and feedback on the comments section of the blog!
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