New Building, New Food Choices

Visit the new Campus Center Web site today: www.umb.edu/campuscenter

By Anne-Marie Kent

The new Campus Center not only boasts great views and open spaces; it also offers a fresh selection of food choices. In addition to the already-popular Atrium Café, which opened March 8, the new building also features a food-court dining area with seating for 750 people, which opened March 22. The University Club is also located in a new building, serving similar entrees, buffet-style, in a beautiful new venue, a room accented with cherry wood finishes and expansive views of Boston Harbor.

From light vegetarian fare to heavier, home-style options, café drinks and pastries, mainstream fast food, and even sushi, the new center offers delectable options for everyone. The range of choice is no accident: a lot of research went into the menu planning; the diversity of the menu reflects the diversity of the campus.

“We do a couple things,” explains Sodexho general manager Michael Forcier. “One is called ‘lifestyling.’ We take all the zip codes of the people who work and go to school here and you put them into a program that basically says, ‘OK, most of the people there would want to eat these types of foods.’” He adds that Sodexho also does surveys and traffic studies to determine not only what people want but when they want it. “Plus, we’re a company so large, we have so many college campuses, we know what’s popular.”

So what’s popular? The new food court includes the “Mein Bowl,” offering authentic Asian cuisine, cooked to order on gas-fired woks. There is also sushi, soup, and an “extensive” salad bar. The deli sandwich area is called “It’s a Wrap.” Then there’s “Pete’s Arena,” serving up hot calzones, pizza, pasta, and other Italian favorites. “It’s all fresh. It’s all made right there,” says Forcier. “If you order a chicken Parmesan sub, they take it and put it through the oven so it’s all made-to-order, good-quality food.” The “Harbor Market” area provides what Forcier calls “home-style comfort foods.” Also, Burger King is back.

orcier reports that Burger King accounts for 20 percent of Sodexho’s business. “People know it. They like it. We have to give them what they want,” says Forcier. The Atrium Café and the food court will be serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Giving people what they want means that Forcier’s team is also making changes to other food service outlets on campus. Their plans include a “cyber café” in the lobby of the Healey Library, a new look for the Quinn cafeteria, and an expanded menu for the coffee cart in the McCormack first-floor lobby, which will soon offer soups and sandwiches.

Image: Students Megan Benoit and Kerry Rodden sample food from the Atrium Café a day after its opening. (Photo by Harry Brett)

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