Rat gets healthy facelift

With sales steadily declining in the dining hall over the past several years, Boston College Dining Services (BCDS) officials made several changes to the Lyons dining hall, including possibly turning it into a Dunkin' Donuts franchise. Though "The Rat" has undergone major, and somewhat controversial changes, the DD franchise was not one of them.

"As we speak today, Dunkin' Donuts is not going into Lyons Hall," she said. "Many ideas were thrown around, and Dunkin' Donuts came up, but it just didn't happen."

Though the coffee chain didn't come to fruition, BCDS administrators didn't rule it out entirely from future consideration.

But while Dunkin' Donuts never made it off the drawing board, other changes to the Rat - and other dining facilities - did.

After months of student surveys, the BCDS decided that the best way to increase sales in the dining hall was by making the facility: (1) accessible to a broader customer and (2) capable of satisfying the customer's wants and needs, based on the survey. They also aimed at altering the Rat's stereotype of having only fast, greasy food, and expanded the variety of what it had to offer.

"Students wanted the food at Lyons to be fast, portable, and fresh," said Wechsler. "When you have 20 minutes in between classes, we want to make sure you can get food and go."

To accomplish this, The Rat's kitchen was turned into a cold-prep commissary, where standardized dishes would be prepared. To expedite this service, the top-selling soups, salads, and sandwiches are made fresh daily and stacked in the refrigerators.

And the current services offered aren't the "end-all and be-all" of the Rat; according to BCDS, plans are in the works to add new things to the facility, such as "hot options," within the next few weeks.

Wechsler said that while change is hard, the service changes to the Rat are not done but are still be developed to best serve students.

With Lower Live consistently bringing the most transactions during the dinner rush, Addie's, the dining facility above Lower Live, was created to offer different options to customers while taking some pressure off of the BC Dining staff.

Within the past five years, Addie's has changed cuisine themes three times.

First serving Italian food, the demand on Addie's was so intense that the location needed to be changed. Students can now find an "Italian Station" in the confines of Lower Live.

Next, Addie's took a chance and became a taqueria. Again, its popularity and long lines caused Dining Services to rethink this approach and move the taqueria also into the larger Lower Live.

A third approach was to offer tapas, more snack-food type dishes.

After last year, BCDS rethought this offering as well and decided to try yet another approach. After much deliberation, Tamarind Café was created.

Serving a wide variety of rice bowls and other Asian-inspired cuisine, BCDS officials say that Tamarind Café is doing well.

"On an average night," said Wechsler, "Tamarind brings in two-and-a-half times more revenue than the past Addie's would have brought in on their best nights."

Depending on how much of the recently-released master plan is realized, future students can expect other changes such as a new dining hall in one of the newly planned buildings and also updated dining options on Middle Campus.

With a cumulative average of 22,000 transactions a day in University dining halls, the BCDS officials said that they are constantly working to make all customers happy - not always an easy job.

Last year, BCDS received the prestigious Ivy Award for Excellence in Dining recognizing their continued commitment to serving students well, as well as their continued work to improve dining services for the entire University.