Changing Seasons, Changing Meal Plans at Redlands

Plaza Market Cashier Gabriela Coreas and Plaza Café Supervisor Carlotta Benson selling flower arrangements in the Plaza Market

Plaza Market Cashier Gabriela Coreas and Plaza Café Supervisor Carlotta Benson selling flower arrangements in the Plaza Market

Submitted by Susan Martinez, Operations Manager

At Bon Appétit, we like not only fresh produce but fresh cafés, too. At University of Redlands in Redlands, CA, it was time to remodel both cafés and student spending plans — tastefully, of course. With the renovations of the Irvine Commons, the Plaza Café, and the Plaza Market came the overhaul of student meal plans. The old All-You-Care-to-Eat plan yielded to declining credit balances (DCBs) to better complement the à la carte menu. But in Bon Appétit fashion, students were given plenty of clever options for spending their debit dollars this past year.

Thanksgiving was the first holiday to offer DCB options. With pumpkin pie on everyone’s menu, the wonderful bakers of Bon Appétit set to work making pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies to sell in the newly remodeled Plaza Market. Keeping them stocked was an impossible task, with more than 100 pies a day flying off shelves just before Thanksgiving break.

Winter holidays brought entirely new stock—house-made cookies and popcorn in tins, s’mores packages, mugs with hot chocolate fixings, pies, and more — all beautifully packaged. The gifts disappeared in fast motion due to their popularity and ease of DCB payment. Mother’s Day brought roses and lilies in gorgeous arrangements. Theresa Garvin Flores, University Club supervisor, helped harmonize the different blossoms into slender vases, pleasing all those who passed through the market with their fragrance and pleasing every student’s pocketbook with a good price and easy payment. And finally, to let students spend their last DCB dollars, the cafés set up sidewalk sales of beverages and packaged goods at the end of the year.