On-Campus Beef ‘O’ Brady’s reverts back to its old ways
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s has returned to a full-service restaurant after conducting a trial run as a fast-casual, quick-service restaurant over the summer. ORACLE FILE PHOTO
After receiving negative results in surveys, Beef 'O' Brady’s in the Marshall Student Center has reverted back to its full-service setup.
Over the summer, Beef 'O' Brady’s launched a trial to transform into a fast-casual, quick-service restaurant as opposed to its traditional full-service alternative.
During the Summer B session, the test run for the Beef 'O' Brady’s involved placing an order and picking up food at the counter instead of full-service dining. Based on student surveys in the restaurant, Jessica Cicalese, the marketing director of USF Dining Services, said the decision was made to revert Beef 'O' Brady’s back to the full-service restaurant.
“We want to keep the atmosphere for people who have enjoyed it in the past,” Cicalese said.
Close to 500 surveys were collected using paper ballots, rather than an online poll. Due to this format, Cicalese said the specific survey results were no longer available.
There was a combination of positive and negative feedback, according to Cicalese. She said the surveys were either happy about the reduced wait time or customers were not enjoying the experience without servers.
“People do like to sit down and enjoy their lunch and there are people that want to grab their food and go,” Cicalese said.
Food service director Sean Hamad said he believes part of the reason students prefer a full-service environment is because of the familiarity of the setting.
“Some people do not like change,” Hamad said. “We got good feedback from people that wanted the fast service and from people who come for the extra level of a full-service restaurant.”
Due to the research that Hamad gathered while working alongside the corporate Beef 'O' Brady’s, the menu will be minimized to showcase the top-selling items and promote shorter wait times with the full-service format.
“We’re going to remain with full service to keep that environment how it was originally created,” Cicalese said.
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