Can you include online what will be in the organic bar on thursdays?Yes, we can and will! But please remember that the menu (at any station) is subject to change, and seasonal/organic items are more likely to change than others!
Can you include the calories of drinks online?
Unfortunately, our ability to do customized nutritional analysis of recipes is extremely limited due to antiquated software. Most of our drinks are packaged, and therefore labeled for nutrition content. For an approximation of the calorie/nutrition content of fountain drinks and hot beverages, here's a useful website: http://nutritiondata.self.com/
Can you guys make a Date/Banana/Tahini smoothie one saturday morning??? They're really good!
Yum! Fresh, organic dates are seasonal, so you can look forward to this treat on a Saturday in early spring semester!
Can you guys once make persian stews and rices?
Sounds good - especially for cool weather :-) Can you please send us the names/recipes of some of your favorites?
What happened to the "soda water" otherwise known as seltzer from the soda tap? I realized it made an appearance for parents weekend but disappeared thereafter. It saves a lot of plastic from bottles consumed from the fridge. Bringit back please
-and-
Please bring back the soda water! So many students loved it and it's so much healthier than soda. It's also more economical for those who'd rather not pay for the san Pellegrino or la croix the campus offers. Although it may have only been offered because one of the soda syrups was empty, it was so good for the time it was here.
That was kind of a happy fluke - our supplier had shorted us on Caffeine-Free Diet Coke for a period of time, so we had a spare spout. That said, we have decided that once the Fresca is all used up, we will no longer carry that product, and will offer soda water instead. However, please be advised that, not only is soda water not free, we are required to charge sales tax on it (and all carbonated beverages).
A couple weekends ago there were vegan chocolate muffins and they were SO good, but I haven’t seen them since. Any chance they could come back?
Yes :-) We have had an abundance of requests for various flavors of vegan muffins this year, so we are rotating them. The chocolate will return.
I’ve frequently noticed that vegan 7 grain tenders on Tuesdays tend to not be available at 5 even though the chicken tenders and fries are, and often they don’t come out until later. Is there any way to make them available at 5 when the station opens? Sometimes I need to get dinner early and it would be super nice if they were an option. Thanks!!
This semester the Marketplace (not to mention the Tiger Cooler), particularly the evening shift, has been chronically short-staffed, due to a number of extended staff vacancies as well as a shortage of casual employees. We received your comment a couple of weeks agao - and we hope you have seen improvement. We're very sorry.
Cc needs ice cream or some dessert stuff
We agree, and are working to get our Coffee Cart vendors on board. One of last year's vendors got bought out, so we have a new supplier for packaged goods this year, and we have unfortunately experienced dependability issues with them. We also work with local restaurant 4 Cafe, and may be able to get their baked goods, but Coffee Cart items must be pre-packaged and have ingredient labeling. This would require 4 Cafe to be able to comply with those requirements. We anticipate more sweet items for the Cart by next semester, and we appreciate your patience!
{Marketplace] Food has excess of oil.
Could you please provide us with more information? Which food do you find has too much oil? For those items, is this consistent, or occasional? Sometimes recipes/items made by different personnel or equipment can produce a different result. Please write us back and we will be happy to look into your concerns.
[Green Bean] dairy free milk at self serve station
That, unfortunately would raise costs for everyone, as some customers already use the self-service station to pour large quantities of milk into personal containers. The GB does charge a little bit more for dairy-free milk in your beverage, as do most Coffee shops.
Are the dinner rolls vegan? How about the gluten free dinner rolls? What is the nutritional content (calories, fat, protein) of each?
The regular dinner rolls are not vegan (they contain dairy). However, the gluten free roll is dairy free. The regular ones have 120 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 4 grams of protein each. The gluten free have 140 calories, 4 grams of fat, and 1 gram of protein
[Green Bean] It’s super cool that you have matcha at all but if you could get a matcha powder that’s not so sweet that would be amazing!
Your response from The Green Bean management team: "Thank you for your input, the Green Bean can try and look into less sweet options, but unfortunately, most of the options within the area that we can reasonably get are very similar to the current Matcha we use." If you have a suggested product, please let us know!
[Green Bean] It is great that the Green Bean offers compostable cups and lids but there are very few places on campus to properly dispose of these cups once they are finished. There are many recycle bins throughout campus but I think there is a need for a greater number of compostable bins, especially given the popularity of the Green Bean.
We reached out to both the GB management team, and also Oxy's sustainability coordinator, Jenny Low, to respond to your concerns:
From the Green Bean Team:
"Thanks for your suggestion about disposing of the compostable cups. Unfortunately, placing compost bins outside of the Green Bean is beyond our reach. But we have a dedicated group of Oxy students who work with the Sustainability Coordinator, Jenny Low, to advocate for more compost bins on campus and they are the ones who take care of the bins every day (big shoutout!). We have directed your suggestion to Jenny and hopefully with the demand of compost bins go up, we will be able to see more compost bins around campus. In the meantime, the Green Bean offers a 20 cent discounts for costumers who check out our for-here mugs or bring their own. We recognize the environmental impact our business might have and we strive to do out best to improve the sustainability part of our business."
-and- From Jenny Low:
"Thank you for wanting to close the loop for Green Bean compostable cups, lids, and straws! Because of the passion from students like you, compost pilot projects started last year to expand composting outside the Green Bean and the Marketplace. As a result, there are now permanent compost bins at these locations: 1) JSC 1st floor, 2) Johnson Hall entrance, 3) Library 2nd floor next to printer, and 4) the Cooler. We did test a compost bin at Newcomb Hall, but it had very little usage. For residence halls, I will work with RAs or residents who are passionate to bring it into their hall. However, my main focus are on locations that will have high usage at the start. For instance, I am currently working on having more compost bins on different floors of the library.
These compost bins are emptied by my student staff. They are trained to ensure that no trash or recycling is mistakenly thrown in. The custodial staff do not have enough hands to handle an additional task, especially if they need to be trained, plus take compost bags to a specific location, which can derail their workflow.
Now, all compostable material goes into a compactor at our campus that holds 10,000-12,000 lbs of organics for pickup. If a bin full of trash or recycling is thrown into this compactor, then the whole load can be contaminated to the level our hauler considers the entire contents as trash to be thrown into the landfill. Compost is wonderful to add on soil, so you wouldn't want pieces of trash, glass, metal and other unneeded material in your garden or landscape.
The plan is to expand composting on campus, but it will be a few locations at a time to best understand the behavior of that area. For instance, the JSC bin became seriously contaminated when we had the bin's lid be an open square hole to accept both Green Bean cups and food (similar to the Library's one). So we switched the lid to a circular hole to allow passage for only Green Bean cups, and there's been very little contamination since.
Let me know if you have any other questions and if you want to discuss more on working together to expand composting options at Oxy."
Cheers,
Jenny Low
I am a vegan who unfortunately cannot eat soy because of a food intolerance, I was wondering if there could be more non soy based meat substitutes.
The Cooler management team recently met with a product representative who will soon be sending samples of Beyond Meat. While plant-based, their products do not contain soy and are both vegan and gluten free. These include burger patties, "beef" and "chicken" strips and crumbles. If stocked through one of our distributors, this may soon be another option at the Cooler. As for the Marketplace, we are always balancing the requests of our vegans, some of whom love soy-based products and others who prefer alternate plant-based options. We suggest Meatless Mondays, which rarely incorporate soy ingredients, as well as weekend bruches at Chef's Corner, which frequently include plant-based vegan options. Finally, watch the on-line menus for Soup, Specialty Salad, Homestyle, and Chef's Corner items, such as Organic Curried Cauliflower Salad and Baby Carrots (v)(gf) with Mango Chutney Dressing, served on Monday 11/20.
The Grill has tofu listed as an option on their menu, but when I've attempted to order this I've been told that the grill does not have this option. Can grilled tofu be added as a protein option for lunch/dinner hours? Or can this be removed from the menu?
We're re-training all the grill staff. We do indeed offer the Grilled Tofu - but some of the staff members were not aware that they need to obtain the uncooked tofu from the Sandwich Station when an order is placed. This ensures that the freshest product is used. We apologize, and thanks for letting us know!
The sudden removal of the sweet potato fries from Sunday Burger Bar is unacceptable. There was no student comment period leading up to its removal, and many students, including myself are very upset. At the very least, instead of removing the sweet potato fries, there should be an alternative, like regular fries, instead of the complete removal of the sweet potato fries from Sunday Burger Bar. Having sweet potato fries only on Fridays in unfair and asinine as students can simply walk over to the Cooler if they'd like regular fries (which they can do on any day).
The Sweet Potato fries were ordered, but our vendor did not deliver. To our knowledge this was just a one week situation, and the Sweet Potato fries are back on the Sunday Burger Bar.
Instead of baking the bagels, they should be boiled like they are supposed to be. That way, the inside of the bagel is not dry.
We purchase fresh bagels daily (except Sundays) for the Marketplace and Tiger Cooler from Brooklyn Bagel Bakery. This is a local Bakery that provides bagels to restaurants throughout SoCal. The bagels are boiled (or steamed), and we've been carrying them for about a decade ;-)
[Green Bean] Bring back Pumpkin Spice Latte year round please
The PSL was drink of the month in October. Oddly, according to the managers it didn't sell particularly well. You may still order it, by requesting a latte with Pumpkin Pie Syrup, while supplies of the syrup last!
The hot dogs at the Cooler are massive, but the buns are tiny and literally cannot accommodate the dog. Please fix. Also, the bun is kind of odd in general.
We tried a Pretzel Bun for the Cooler Hot Dogs, but it was not well received. We recently switched back to a more traditional bun.
The burgers at the Cooler, compared to the burgers at the Marketplace are just not good. At the Cooler, for some reason, the burgers taste like the grill and are quite dry (and that is actually the case for most meats cooked at the Cooler - dry, charred, and not seasoned). The Marketplace, however never seems to have any of these challenges and I am not sure why. Please address.
The Cooler gets the same burgers as the Marketplace, and they are cooked on the same type of charbroiler as the Marketplace. It is true thet we do not pre-season any of the meats at the Cooler - other than the steaks. While we would agree that seasoning makes things generally taste better, we do not add them becausemany student either cannot or prefer not to have the added salt, or other seasonings. The Cooler carries many seasonings which may be added after preparation, as well as 15 or more various toppings which may be added during preparation for a customers particular tastes. At the Cooler you also have the ability to ask for your burger cooked to the wellness you prefer. If you order a burger, and receive it not cooked to your order, please bring this to the attention of the cashier or manager and we will make your order again.
Please offer some chicken wings and a selection of sauces. That would be great.
How about a Wing Station on Friday nights at the Marketplace?! We're working on rolling out this concept - stay tuned!
What is the recipe for the brownies that are sometimes in the bakery part of the MP? i love the
Watch this space - recipe coming soon!
What are the mushrooms at the sandwich station marinated in?
We make the vegan and gluten-free marinade for the sandwich station mushrooms from: Tamari Sauce, Rice Vinegar, Brown Sugar, Chile Paste and Sesame Oil.
There should be more portable (frozen, microwavable, etc.) meals at these locations for students who wake up prior to these facilities or eat after they close. Hot pockets or more maruchan products such as yakisoba or cup noodles (which are already at the coffee cart for example). The food we currently have in this department is limited and only consists of a few brands and variety or familiar brands such as bostons market would be greatly appreciated!
As you can imagine, we have limited freezer space. We tend to fill it with items that meet at least one of two criteria - vegan and gluten free items (because if a customer doesn't care for the day's offerings this is a nice substitute), or items that meet Real Food Challenge standards.
please have a vegetarian pasta of the day more often!!
We have forwarded your request to our team of chefs. The Pasta of the Day tends to sell better when it contains a meat or poultry protein, but we'll try to balance things out.
pasta salad should be offered in the salad bar more often!
Pasta salad takes considerable staff labor to produce. We tend to feature it when we are already producing a large quantity for a catered event :-)