Picture
http://www.fajitagrill.com/
By Ken Sturtz
Editor-in-Chief

When Auxiliary Services officials at SUNY Oswego announced plans in 2011 to expand their Plus Plan program to include Fajita Grill as a fourth vendor, student response was overwhelmingly positive.

Despite the success, however, Auxiliary Services has no plans to add a fifth vendor in the near future, said Director of Cash and Catering Operations Stephen McAfee.

“At this point I think we’re in a holding pattern,” McAfee said. “We need to get the details shaken out.”

Plus Plan, also known as Laker Dining Dollars, is a declining balance account useable at dining halls, cash operations across campus and select food vendors in the community. Now in its twelfth year, the Plus Plan program spent its first 10 years with just two vendors, Dominos and Oswego Sub Shop.

Student feedback in part led to Auxiliary Services adding Wonton House to the program two years ago. It had been among a handful of businesses interested in joining the selective program, which can mean substantial extra business from students. Despite the addition, students clamored to have another food vendor added to the program.

More than 65 percent of students specifically requested Fajita Grill be added to the program in a Student Association survey conducted last year, in which more than 600 students were polled.

“We had been trying for almost three years to get Fajita Grill on, but they didn’t want to be in the delivery business until 1 a.m. in the morning,” McAfee said.

One of the program’s stipulations is that Plus Plan vendors must offer late night food services. McAfee estimates more than 60 percent of Plus Plan orders are placed after midnight and around 80 percent of transactions take place after 10:30 p.m.

“They realized that they had some challenges with their program and their type of product doesn’t necessarily work well with online ordering,” McAfee said.

Instead of traditional online ordering, the restaurant compromised. It would accept Laker Dining Dollars on Plus Plan, but students would have to walk in, place their orders in person and swipe their ID cards. 

After working out some unexpected technical issues, Auxiliary Services coordinated with the new vendor for a soft opening in October 2011.

McAfee emailed Auxiliary Services roughly 600 student employees about the addition. To his surprise just minutes later, a student he was meeting with asked McAfee if it was true Fajita Grill was being added to Plus Plan. McAfee marveled at the reaction from students and how quickly word spread.

The first night Fajita Grill had the Plus Plan system working, about 30 students were waiting in line outside Fajita Grill at 5 p.m. to use their Laker Dining Dollars.

After two consecutive years of adding new vendors to the Plus Plan program, McAfee said his office is still catching up and ironing out the bugs. Not having to deal with bringing another vendor online this year will give Auxiliary Services time to assess the state of the program, he said.
Add Comment