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The Rice Thresher
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by Mark Berenson Thresher Editorial Staff
To help fill the gap in breakfast options, continental breakfast is now available at the convenience store. Assistant Director of College Food Service Rebecca Scheiner said Sammy's had been serving breakfast each morning from 8 to 10 a.m. to around 60 people, mostly employees from Facilities and Engineering. Cereal, bottled juices, coffee and now a few hot items, including breakfast tacos, are available at the convenience store. Prices are the same as they were at Sammy's. Scheiner said the new meal plan was responsible for the elimination of breakfast at Sammy's, as the numbers of meals being served at Sammy's has dropped significantly. Meals eaten at Sammy's are not covered by the all-you-can-eat meal plan. Food and Housing Director Mark Ditman said the elimination at the start of this school year of the breakfast Training Table, meal service for varsity athletes held at Sammy's, also contributed to the decrease of volume for breakfast at Sammy's. Ditman estimated that last school year, two-thirds of the those eating breakfast at Sammy's were athletes. Many people who regularly got their breakfast at Sammy's were upset by the change. "I've been eating here every morning for the past 10 years, and they just cut if off, without warning, and I don't know why," Thomas Yeates, an F&E mechanic, said. "I don't know if they're losing money, or if they just want to be more like Harvard." Baker College sophomore Megan Francis said the change would limit options, especially for students who like to eat a late breakfast after the college serveries have stopped serving hot breakfast. "That's bad," Francis said. "It limits the options even more, and it's not like we have a plethora of options to begin with." Scheiner said students should remember that the colleges serve continental breakfast until 11. Sammy's will now be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday for lunch service and in the evening for Training Table. Scheiner said the lunch menu at Sammy's has shifted slightly to focus on grill items. This includes hamburgers made from fresh, as opposed to frozen, beef, and a make-your-own baked potato station. This is the second time this school year that Sammy's hours of operation have been cut. In late September, Sammy's late-night was reinstated after students at a Student Association meeting said they would prefer having Sammy's open in the evening instead of Subway. However, on Oct. 26, Ditman closed Sammy's late-night because it was operating at a loss. Scheiner said that despite these cuts in service hours, she believes Sammy's has a future at Rice, which will probably include a return of breakfast service. "Sammy's has a future, but it needs some really good leadership to make it viable, profitable for us, and also a good alternative for staff and faculty to have a great choice," Scheiner said. Scheiner said F&H is currently looking for a new executive chef to run Sammy's and to raise the quality of Sammy's food. "Currently, the food is sufficing, but it is not hitting the quality level that I would like it to," Scheiner said. "I want [students] to be proud when they bring a guest in to eat at Sammy's." Scheiner said she envisioned a Ruggles-like environment, with food prices staying in the $4 to $6 dollar range. At Ruggles, a casual restaurant, customers pick up made-to-order food at a counter, and then sit down at tables. Scheiner said a change in the nature of Sammy's has been necessitated by the new all-you-can-eat meal plan and Subway. "It is the new meal plan," Scheiner said. "Students are not spending their Tetra points here, they're going to Subway; Subway cannibalized our business. ... We need to find a niche to make it worthwhile for students to spend their money here." In addition, Scheiner said she might take steps to formalize the change in the nature of Sammy's. "I am even thinking of changing the name to Yammy's instead of Sammy's just as something to help to change it up," Scheiner said. Scheiner said the new Sammy's will be planned over the summer and will open in time for the 2001-'02 school year.
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