Randy Keaton, Aramark representative, holds one of the formerly broken pieces of equipment: a blender from We Proudly Brew Starbucks.
Photo by Christian Pridemore
When students are tired of the food served in the cafeteria, many choose to go downstairs to the Subway franchise or Concord’s own restaurant, Wingspan, to get food that is fresh and delicious. Most students also go to Starbucks regularly for their caffeine fix in order to study and attend class. There is no busier time for these restaurants than right near the beginning of the year, which just so happened to be when equipment from all three franchises broke down and left many menu items unable to be prepared for students.
The grill at Wingspan, the toaster oven at Subway, and the cappuccino machine and one of the blenders at Starbucks were all inoperable over the span of at least a week. At the time of writing this article, only the toaster at Subway still remains broken, but it is important to understand why this happened and why it took so long for all of these items to become operational again.
Rick Dillon, Vice President of Administration, explained that the parts for the Starbucks cappuccino machine have to be ordered from pre-approved vendors and shipped at the whim of the Starbucks company. Naturally, this meant that it was going to take time for the machine to be fixed while the parts were en-route to the school. Meanwhile, according to the Director of Dining Services, Randy Keaton, the blender that broke down was over 3 years old, and, after such a time, the Starbucks company would not repair it and it needed to be replaced. Back at Wingspan, the grill simply had an issue with setting the thermostat so that it could be heated, and needed that element replaced before it could be operational again. The toaster at Subway was being serviced on the day of writing, and has more-than-likely become operational again by the time this article will have been published.
This event was described by Dillon as a “perfect storm scenario”. Even though Subway had been operational for the summer preceding the 2016-2017 school year, the toaster broke down at the same time as the grill and machines at Starbucks during the busiest time of the year. The malfunctions in the machinery were minor, but facilitated their need for maintenance and therefore could not be used. It’s important to realize that there was no fault on anybody, and that this was a freak accident. According to both Dillon and Keaton, there wasn’t even that much loss of business from the three restaurants, seeing as how students were still able to purchase other menu items that were not dependent on the broken machinery.
The restaurants in Subway Sides continue to be favored eateries of students and faculty alike, despite this minor setback, and are predicting a good year now that their machinery has been serviced and is functioning at full capacity. For more information about all things relating to student life, including the dining services, see Rick Dillon in the housing office. For more specific questions about dining services, visit the dining office; both offices can be found on the second floor of the Concord University Student Center.