Dining focuses on new East options

For freshmen unhappy with the Marketplace, East Campus dining improvements are in the works.

Officials approved the revival of the meal equivalency program at the East Campus eatery a few months ago, and freshmen were able to use it for the first time Monday.

Negotiations are also underway to install a permanent vendor in the Upper East Side of the Marketplace.

The reinstated equivalency option allows students who miss breakfast at the Marketplace to use the money toward lunch at the eatery that same day.

The credit cannot be carried over to another day.

A pilot program was conducted for a couple of weeks at the end of the spring semester. The program was well received by students and prompted the permanent change this year, said said Andrew Wallace, co-chair of the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee.

"We didn't like having such a high missed meal factor," he explained.

To protect the dining employment infrastructure, students will only be allowed to use $4 out of the total $5 cost of their breakfast meal toward lunch, Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said.

"This is very convenient," freshman Claudia Gasiorek said. "I don't like getting up in the morning. This way I'm not wasting all the money."

One hundred and fifty students used the breakfast equivalency option the first day it was offered, Wulforst said.

"I think it's going to add between 200 and 250 customers to [the Marketplace's] existing lunch [crowd] of 200," he added.

The breakfast equivalency option is likely the only major change students are going to see in dining on East this year, Wallace said. He added, however, that more improvements are needed.

"I don't think it's enough giving the equivalency to freshmen because it forces you to go back to East for lunch," he said.

Other possible changes on East include installing a new late-night eatery.

"It's very important that we expand the options available for freshmen because I think what they're getting now is just not cutting it," Wallace said.

Dining Services and DUSDAC are currently looking for a "cutting-edge" vendor for the Upper East Side of the Marketplace, he added.

"The space is large enough to put in a small counter-service venue, something with a simple menu and can be easily manned by a couple of people," Wallace said. "It is cost-prohibitive to run the Marketplace past nine."

If another vendor is brought in, the cost could be as high as $500,000, Wulforst said.

He added, however, that money is not a concern for a new eatery.

"I never want to let money get in the way of a good decision," Wulforst said. "It's always good to invest in concepts that have long term benefit to the Duke community."

Representatives of the popular hamburger restaurant chain Johnny Rockets came to see the space a few weeks ago, but "they were interested in other space besides East Campus," Wulforst said.

"They were more interested in a West Campus location, which we don't have the real estate for right now," he noted.

The open space on the Upper East Side is the only place to expand dining on East, Wallace said.

"We've considered doing lots of things," he explained. "We considered changing Trinity Cafe to a sandwich or late-night venue shop. We also thought of putting something in the lobby of East Union."

Another possible vendor is Aromi d'Italia, a gelato distributor from Baltimore, Md., Wulforst said.

"The gelato [provider] will have a very strong appeal to the Duke community," he noted. "It will be a great supplement to the Trinity Cafe."

Wulforst explained it would be relatively inexpensive to bring a gelato cafe to the Upper East Side.

The main cost would come from buying gelato cases, which cost about $10,000 each.

Wulforst said he hopes to find a new vendor by late December.

"We might have to push hard for it to happen, but I'd like to announce [a new vendor] for the spring semester," he said.