Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Walking into the first floor of Wells Conference Center, students and faculty find the lobby is no longer unused and lifeless. Instead, they find an efficient cafe-style operation in a quiet, comfortable atmosphere amidst the aromas of hearty soup and homemade sandwiches.
The Soup and Sandwich Bar has officially been open since Jan. 29. It is located on the first floor of Wells Commons and is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The weekly menu is available on Channel 2 and also on FirstClass. The Soup and Sandwich Bar accepts both cash and MaineCard.
The menu consists of a variety of soup and sandwiches. Chicken noodle is the most frequently available soup. Other kinds include minestrone, as well as various types of chowders, garden vegetable and tomato basil. These soups rotate on a three-week basis. Some type of vegetarian soup is also offered daily.
All of the sandwiches are pre-made wraps to ensure freshness. A couple of different fillings are smoked turkey, roast beef and cheddar. A vegetarian sandwich is also always available.
“We don’t duplicate any of Fernald’s sandwiches,” said Jim Carey, manager of Dining Services. “We try to make it unique from anything on campus right now.”
Customers of the Soup and Sandwich Bar recognize its different options and uniqueness.
“I really like this because when I go to Fernald’s they only have one kind of soup. I’m a vegetarian and it’s usually beef,” said Laurie St. Clair, an elementary education major.
In addition to purchasing lunch items separately, the Soup and Sandwich Bar offers two “lunch combo’s.” The full meal for $5 includes a 12-ounce soup, one-half of a sandwich, a beverage and a dessert. Another option is the $4 meal, which includes a 12-ounce soup, a choice of homemade bread, dinner or bulky roll, a beverage and a dessert.
The primary purpose of the Soup and Sandwich Bar is to offer an alternative to the slim lunch selection due to the Memorial Union reconstruction. It also functions to serve this particular section of campus.
“This end of campus is a little under served, we really are trying to meet the needs of this area,” said Carey.
Since this area of campus consists of mainly office buildings, a large number of customers are faculty.
“I think that it’s about time something was up here, it adds to the selection on campus,” said Ryan Labrecque, a construction management major. “It’s another option, which is always a good thing.”
According to Ann Landry, a food server for the Student Auxiliary Services, information on the new service has been spreading to the students. “It’s getting more popular with the students, they are finding out that we are here and it’s growing in numbers every day,” she said.
The first week the Soup and Sandwich Bar was open the staff served 15 to 20 customers a day. During this past week the number has grown to approximately 30 a day. “We would like to serve 50 to 60 a day, we could survive with that number of customers,” said Carey.
Carey is not sure if the Soup and Sandwich Bar will be open next year.
“It really depends on support from the campus community,” he said. “But it will be open through the rest of this year.”
In the spring they are looking to offer a very unique gourmet line of salads.
Dining service employees said they encourage students and faculty alike to come and try the Soup and Sandwich Bar for themselves. According to Landry, “It’s a good little corner of the world.”
