SUBMISSION: RESPONSE TO EDITORIAL REGARDING FOOD ON CAMPUS

Response to the Feb. 8 editorial, “Food options on campus could better serve students.”

College students do deserve good, quality options for the food choices. Here at Riverview Café and Barista, we are striving to provide food services that the community desires and are also healthy and affordable. According to your end line, your “editorial is designed to explore issues that affect the community.” Perhaps the collective voices could have inquired of the business managers of the food places in your editorial in order to have all the facts.

Fact #1: Food Preferences

We at Riverview are very conscious of the fact that many people on campus have unique food preferences, either due to health concerns or choice. If you actually look at our menu items you will discover that over half of our menu items are gluten free if you elect for gluten-free bread options, which we gladly offer. Over 40 percent of our offerings are vegetarian. Whenever possible, we prepare items vegetarian/vegan. An example is we use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock in soups and other dishes that we make from scratch, not just open a can or thaw a frozen, over-processed food. In our efforts to provide variety, we have tried some new vegetarian and vegan items; however, we do not sell enough and end up throwing out much of the food. It is unfortunate that most of the vegetable based “meats” cost on average three times that of their meat counterpart. This makes it very difficult to keep costs down, which again leads to wasted food.

Fact #2: Affordable prices

Since the middle of the Fall Term, we have lowered our prices on over half of our items and started a value menu with items between $1 and $2. We work hard to lower our costs by making many of our menu items from scratch instead of buying high-cost, highly processed foods. We also negotiate lower prices on our ingredients so that we can keep the cost of our product as low as possible. It is hard to compare a fast food burger that is one-quarter pound of poor quality, high fat beef compared to our one-third pound, 80 percent lean beef. As stated above, MHCC students and staff deserve high-quality food.

Fact #3: Hours

We started serving hot foods at the Barista, two months ago, which is open until 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, so hot foods are currently available later than reported. We at Riverview do wish to meet the needs of our patrons and will be looking into the feasibility of adding more hours to the Café as long as it is cost-effective.  According to your survey, 70 percent indicated their need for food between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., which comes close to our hours of 8 a.m.-2 p.m. At this time, like any smart business, we must use what sells as a means to determine our menu offerings. 

We are very open to any ideas that would help us provide the items that you wish to see here at Riverview. Any responses or ideas regarding food or hours of service may be sent to [email protected]. You may also stop in and talk with me in person.  I would love to hear your ideas.

Sincerely,

Steve Curtis, Manager and Chef of Riverview Café and Barista