Cafeteria sees more revenue

By: Nadra Mabrouk/Staff Writer
With the addition of Starbucks brand items to the Bay Café’s menu, Glenn Rigby, supervisor of Panther Dining Services, has seen an increase in customers since August.

Photo by Andres Bedoya

According to Lorvin Ramirez, assistant food service director, there has been a 20 percent increase in revenue thus far since last year. All profits from Starbucks purchases remain with Panther Dining Services.

The Cafateria at Biscayne Bay Campus is called ‘Bistro on the Bay’ and Rigby claims the best-selling smoothie is the Caribbean Obsession and the Starbucks lattes are getting high customer attention.

The cafeteria was renovated with new additions to Grille Works’ meals in a newly formed digital menu. Some of the different items include the spicy chicken sandwich, the Angus Cheeseburger, the Malibu Veggie burger and curly fries for an extra 30 cents if it is with a combo meal ($1.99 alone).

Roberto “Sunny” Laboy, sous chef at Grille Works, has noticed new faces that keep coming along with the regulars that come back.  Laboy estimates if they were making $1600 a day last year then they are now making $2200 a day on a shift from 11a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ramirez declined to give specific figures on revenue’s.

Last year, the cheeseburger combo meal was $5.35 and this year, with the higher quality Angus beef, the price escalated to $6.09. The size of the chicken breast used is also bigger.

According to Sunny, all of the items from the Grille Works menu are receiving demand, although the spicy chicken sandwich has gained the most popularity among the students.

“I eat from Grille Works’ chef delight meal of the day 2 to 3 times a week, but I try to bring food from home more now,” said Odarris D’Haiti, a graduate occupational therapy student. “The prices are unjustified and I try to be more financially prudent.”

Jonathan Garcia, Junior Civil Engineering major is mainly on the Engineering Campus and eats from the Panther Pit. He claims that Grille Works is pricier than EC’s cafeteria.

Some students feel the price increases are fitful for the quality of the meals.

“They have healthy alternatives and the service is always nice,” Maria Collazo graduate student for Communications said, “The workers are always available. I enjoy [Moe’s Southwest Grill] most because I can choose the ingredients myself.”

According to Ramirez, there is a possibility that there will be a cut down in the 8 p.m. shift seeing as they do not receive that much support during the evening.