The Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee is considering adding local restaurant Vine Sushi and Thai to their Merchants on Points program next year as part of a continued effort to increase food options for students.
Vine general manager Danny Farr and co-owner Danny Lin brought samples of their buy one, get one free sushi rolls and hot noodle dishes to a presentation for DUSDAC members Monday. If approved for Merchants on Points, Vine would deliver to campus for payment by DukeCard. DUSDAC members also discussed upcoming changes to existing venues.
“This just gives the students a better advantage overall,” Farr said, adding that it would be more convenient for students to be able to pay with food points.
Vendors on the Merchants on Points program establish contracts for full academic years—beginning in July and ending in June each year—addressing allergy and monetary concerns, Director of Dining Services Robert Coffey said. DUSDAC will be hearing from various other venues throughout the year.
Before reaching their decision, senior Chris Taylor, co-chair of DUSDAC, said that the committee must analyze the value that Vine, which opened off East Campus last Fall, will add to students and the potential impacts on other vendors in the program.
Delivery orders from Vine typically reach students in 30 to 40 minutes. The majority of the current deliveries go to East Campus residences and Bostock Library, Lin said.
Several DUSDAC members were concerned about the $15 minimum charge for delivery, but they were unanimous in their agreement that the food was of high quality.
“We have plenty of variety,” Farr said.
In other business:
Tammy Hope, Duke Dining’s quality assurance manager, presented information on Duke’s Mystery Diner program. The program allows students and faculty to anonymously provide feedback to administrators about their experiences at the different venues on campus.
Each venue on campus receives five unannounced visits per month, Hope said. She noted that the program has about 80 members but is always looking to accept more.
“It helps you start to think about vendors from a critical standpoint,” Taylor said of the program.
Barbara Stokes, assistant director of Dining Services, said the first few days of having food trucks at lunchtime are not going well.
“The first day, Foster’s made less than $100,” Stokes said, adding that Captain Ponchos had a total of five customers Monday.
Sophomore Lavanya Sunder, Duke Student Government vice president for services, said she is going to work on a campaign to increase publicity for the new lunchtime hours.
“Our idea with bringing these food trucks was that we wanted more variety and price-conscious choices,” Taylor said, echoing the need for more publicity.
Red Mango currently opens at 10 a.m. every day, but they are looking at changing their hours to open at 12 p.m. on the weekends.
Red Mango typically receives less than 3 percent of their total daily business before noon on weekends.
Several students and Stokes said that they recommend that the venue push back their opening to 11 a.m.
“You don’t want to have to cut back twice though,” said junior Nikolai Doytchinov, DSG executive vice president.
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