RIVERVIEW CAFÉ EXPANDS HOURS AND FOOD CHOICES
Riverview Café has extended its hours, and is now open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. The café (in the Vista Dining Room) has also added new items to the breakfast menu, and a happy hour menu, available from 4 to 6 p.m.
Steve Curtis, kitchen manager and chef of Riverview on campus, explained plans to keep the longer hours through the end of Spring Term, but also the need to reach a revenue target of $400 during the extended late afternoon hours, 2 to 6 p.m. The café will soon display new signage to reflect the recent changes.
Curtis has been managing Riverview since September 2018, and has several ideas to modify how the café is run in the future. His next goal is to assess how it can improve food quality. One way to achieve this is by providing made-to-order items during breakfast, as compared to grab-and-go items.
The expanded breakfast menu includes made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, french toast with fruit, omelettes, biscuits and gravy, and chicken and waffles. Sides are also available and the items mentioned will be available every day as opposed to being one-day specials. Breakfast is available from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m.
The other new addition is a Happy Hour menu. Items now offered include mozzarella sticks with marinara ($4), deluxe nachos ($4), wings with choice of sauce ($5) and churros ($1 each).
Due to the extended hours, Riverview is in need of new staff. Anyone interested in applying can pick up an application from the cashier in the café. Several positions are available, mainly cashiering; potentially, additional cooks; and a backup barista at Riverview Barista in the St. Helens room. Riverview will also need help providing concessions during weekend events scheduled for May, and is looking to temporarily hire 30-50 people.
What’s more, there are currently written survey sheets available in the café. Curtis asks those customers filling out the survey to be specific in items they would like to see available. Throughout the year the café has tried new food items that sometimes do not sell quickly.
“I hate to throw away food,” Curtis said. However, if the food is still good (reusable), the café tries to donate excess items to Barney’s Pantry in the Student Union. “We try to send as much as we can down to the students,” he said.
these are wonderful changes! The only think I could comment/recommend is that people who prepare food at the cafeteria wear gloves at all times when touching food, I have been there a couple of times and notice not everyone wears gloves and I felt reluctant to get what I ordered being that the case where the person did not wear gloves and was cleaning his hands on his pants. Did not look good to me.