The Northsider saw a 7% increase in student participation since the updated Saute station according to Production Chef Karl Anderson.
In November, the Northsider changed to keeping lunch and dinner options the same each day, resulting in 200-300 more diners during those meal hours overtaking the View.
“Each class has a unique diet,” said Karl Anderson, Production Chef at the Northsider. “We tried to meet those changes to make sure you guys are getting the food that you want.”
The Northsider and the View try to keep a 45-to-55 diner ratio respectively which Anderson said has been harder to maintain with the View’s proximity to the new arena and engineering building.
To maintain the desired ratio and maximize utility of the Northsider, Anderson said they’ve left the opportunity for further changes open.
“Saute left us with some options for further development if we did want to turn any one of the concepts into more of an action station, similar to how the student body experiences that at the View, where they have the Your Call station,” Anderson said.
Anderson discovered that new students gravitate toward burgers and fried chicken dishes. He attributed it to it being “their first entrance into getting to choose what you eat all the time.”
That inspired all new menu items like: Crafted Mac & Cheese, Hot Honey Yardbird, Beef and Cheddar Smash Sliders, Wing Hustle, and Detroit Trio.
“When the student body comes for its first time, it’s kind of their first entrance into getting to choose what you eat all the time,” Anderson said. “They tend to navigate themselves into fried chicken of some sort, be it nugget popcorn, what have you, tender. The grill station at the View is always, always busy. So burgers, sandwiches like that are always popular.”
Because of the Northsider’s size, Anderson said the consistent menu structure is helping the station’s success.
“We really need to, one, for the benefit of our employees and also for the benefit of the students, be able to reliably produce the same food every single time, and that takes time,” Anderson said.
Abigail Loomis, a sophomore student lead worker at the Northsider, said it gives her “a better idea” of inventory and timing.
Running the station is a balance between food preparation and keeping up with the influx of students.
Sophomore Jocelyn Troia works in the back of the kitchen and said she was “a little concerned” for those who may have to stay at the grill for longer periods of time. She said she knew how tiring the grill could be from her time working at In-N-Out Burger.
Loomis, whose responsibility it was to ensure workers took their breaks, shared a similar concern for front of house workers who were constantly serving students.
“With the new menu, where the line is so crazy, they’ll switch people out every 15-20 minutes, just to make sure that you’re not getting, like, exhausted,” Loomis said.
She also grew more aware of the cleanliness of the busier station.
“When there’s that, like, constant movement, it does make it a little more difficult to, like, keep that up [cleanliness] without slowing down the line,” Loomis said.
Loomis added that another worker was brought in whose sole responsibility was ensuring the cleanliness of the station.
The Saute’s consistency keeps the kitchen from running out of food sooner than anticipated.
“Sometimes people are not upset, but like, confused and sometimes a little annoyed if what’s being served doesn’t match what’s on the menu,” Loomis said.
First-year Evan Tousignant said he “can always rely” on consistency.
“Now, if the student body decides, hey, we’re done with it, we’re over it, then we’ll change and we’ll figure out a new either concept going back to either tried and true recipes that we already have,” Anderson said.
Leila Montoya can be reached at mont1761@stthomas.edu.
