12/9 General Assembly Liveblog!

7:14 Delmar is proposing switching to all-you-care-to-eat at lunchtime. He recognizes that students have had trouble getting balanced meals for the a-la-carte prices. Bon Appetit will be able to do more cooking and provide a greater variety if they switch to a full board operation.

7:15 Stations will have to change.

7:16 The change would necessitate an expansion of the downstairs cafe grab-and-go options. Moving upstairs coolers to provide more retail space and installing a heated pizza case, soups, chili.

7:18 The discussion has been opened to the assembly.

7:19 Sami Pop '11 asked about pricing - is it going to be cheaper than dinner, and flat all across the board? Delmar says the price will be $7.50 for entry, regardless of whether you're getting Vegan, Mongolian, etc.

7:20 Jen Liebschutz '11 asked about grab-and-go packaging. In the long term, it will all be sustainable packaging. Delmar says it takes time to get set up with the vendor.

7:22 Allison Quantz '10 suggested making plates available for sandwiches downstairs to prevent packaging waste, since people might be sitting down for their meals in the cafe.

7:22 Candace Buckner '09 asked if there will be to-go packaging upstairs. Delmar said most likely not, but they are considering a system where you leave your ID at the door for 10 minutes t fill up your plate.

7:24 Julien Burns '10 stressed the need to make sure that diners can really take all they care to eat. Delmar said there's a huge amount of food waste and they're trying to control for that.

7:25 AJ Chan '11 asked if options would be changed. Delmar said you will have the same options but more rotation.

7:26 Karl Grindal '09 asked Delmar to address the concern that lines would be longer. Delmar said they are looking at setting up a kiosk to help with this.

7:29 Izaak Orlansky '08 expressed the concern that some seniors have with being forced to pay $7.50 for lunch. He suggested charging by weight to address waste. Delmar said that would probably not go over well.

7:30 Matthew Ball '08 asked if the change would affect staffing. Delmar said with less cashiers, you can have more people cooking.

7:31 Mike Pernick '10 asked Delmar to confirm that sushi will move upstairs. Delmar clarified that it's being prepared in a new location, but still sold downstairs. He also asked if all the changes could be put in place by the end of January. Delmar is confident that it can.

7:32 Melgily Valdez '09 asked Delmar to elaborate on why Bon Appetit is proposing this change, in light of possible criticism. Delmar said that it was set up the way it is because students had asked for more point-based options, but it just hasn't worked - people have been struggling financially.

7:35 Jen Liebschutz '11 proposed putting a menu downstairs so that students would know ahead of time where they should eat.

7:35 Cesar Medina '09 pointed out that 3 meals per day will still cost about $20, which is much more than we have available. Delmar said that with all-you-care-to-eat, you can get more bang for your buck. Cesar suggested looking at options like at Case Western that mix a la carte and all-you-care-to-eat.

7:37 Alex Halpern-Levy '08 said there is a noticeable difference in quality between lunch and dinner. How can we be assured that lunch won't get worse the way dinner is? Delmar said since it's all cheaper, the savings will lead to quality improvements in both meals.

7:39 Becky Weiss '10 suggested making dinner cheaper, but Delmar said that instead you'll see more meats and better options. Becky reminded Delmar not to forget about vegans and vegetarians.

7:40 Izaak Orlansky '08 asked if Delmar has run the numbers on students savings. He has, and will provide them to the WSA.

7:42 Natasha Newman '09 expressed concern that all-you-care-to-eat will increase food waste. Delmar said that students need to be disciplined, but if they are satisfied with lunch they will be less hungry at dinner.

7:43 Matthew Ball '08 asked what will be upstairs that you won't be able to get without paying $7.50, i.e. what won't be available downstairs. You'd miss out on Classics, Mongolian, etc but it can be packaged if it's popular. There is lots of flexibility for expanding the cafe.

7:46 Dean Rick commented on the dining survey from earlier in the semester, which indicated that students were happier with Bon Appetit than Aramark. There were still some issues with pricing in particular, which could be addressed by moving to all-you-care-to-eat by providing more options for spending meals, limiting the cost of lunch (no more $14 lunch).

7:46 Candace Buckner '09 repeated the concern with the lack of to-go options for upstairs food. Delmar wants to be able to provide that but is concerned that there's no acceptable solution from a security standpoint.

7:49 Mike Pernick '10 asked if Delmar had figures on the amount of people who request to-go containers at lunch. It's very small. Mike also asked what difference between dinner and lunch justifies the $1.75 price difference. It's based on meat availability - solid meats are more traditional for dinner than lunch. Also, that price difference supports monotony breakers and prime nights which Bon Appetit wants to work in.

7:51 Dean Rick pointed out that the prices are based off of Aramark's prices at Mocon.

7:52 Karl Grindal '09 asked if the $1.75 could also be applied to improving vegetarian options at dinner as well. He also expressed concern that vegans are being pushed into Kosher and using plastic disposable plates.

7:53 Gianna Palmer '10 asked Delmar to compare Wesleyan's food waste to other schools. Delmar said we just got scales in to measure that, so we don't know yet. They'll be set up in the spring. Gianna is looking forward to having those numbers because people don't realize how much they're wasting.

7:54 Melgily Valdez '09 asked why lunch has to be all-you-care-to-eat for people who are on all points and can't choose to pay with meals. Delmar said he is just responding to the students. Matt Ball '09 added that the downstairs cafe would provide an option like Davenport.

7:57 Joanna asked if the vegetables and fruits in the display cases were thrown out afterwards, and whether that would be rethought. Delmar said a few cases of fruit were over ordered for Homecoming, but otherwise fruit and vegetables haven't been going to waste.

7:59 Cesar Medina '09 asked if the times would be changed. Delmar said since nobody comes in at 11, maybe they will change it to start at 11:30. Cesar asked if Delmar thought that the points were adequate. He does.

8:00 Sami Pop '11 asked when students could change their meal plans. Dean Rick said it coincides with Drop/Add.

8:01 Darien Combs '11 asked if this would be instituted as a trial period or for the entire semester. Delmar said it will be a semester long trial.

8:01 Julien Burns '10 asked why Bon Appetit has such a focus on limiting what's available to students. Are they not given enough money? Delmar responded by saying that the change would essentially allow students to get more food. "I'm here to feed you. Then we make money maybe down the road."

8:03 The discussion was closed, and a motion has been made for a straw poll.

8:04 17 in favor, 7 opposed, 7 abstaining. The Ayes have it.