by Jonah Zahller
contributor
Plenty of things have changed in my three years here at Millsaps College, but by far the biggest changes that have been made are with Reuben’s, the on-campus restaurant. Since attending Millsaps, Reuben’s has changed its menu entirely and changed how and who prepares the food.
The most drastic change in Reuben’s occurred after the 2013-2014 academic year when the school changed food providers. The new food providers not only changed the food served in the caf, but also entirely changed Reuben’s menu. Before the school got a new food provider, Reuben’s was predominately employed by students who cooked the food and occasionally worked the register. This gave students, like myself, an opportunity to make some extra money while working on campus. Since I worked there during the spring semester of my freshman year, I personally have witnessed the vast changes to Reuben’s.
One of the biggest things that changed about Reuben’s is the menu. The Reuben’s that I worked at my freshman year had more than sixty different menu items ranging from burgers and pizza to chipotle wraps and quesadillas. The ensuing menu from the change in the food provider was drastically reduced to a few simple bar foods. This not only decreased the options available for students to choose from, but it also decreased the quality of the food made. The two Reuben’s menus that proceeded the original menu were fried food focused as a strategy to decrease ticket times on orders, but sacrificed the quality of the food served. The greasy, fried food that the new Reuben’s menu offers is a blatant contradiction to the school’s attempt to provide healthier options for its students.
Overall, Reuben’s quality and quantity of food options have decreased in recent years. To me, this is a breakdown of communication between the school and the students as to what Reuben’s should be offering to the general populace.