“We’re interested in what you’re interested in,” said Heather Muhlenbergh, district manager of Manhattan College’s sodexo office, but is that really true?
The recent establishment of Jasper Dining Dollars has been popular among students interested in eating well without having to pay for meals with cash. Dining dollars are “convenient because I live in Overlook, so I can cross just walk across the street to have dinner,” says Junior, Colleen Fallon.
In spite of her happiness, Fallon did not fail to mention that some of her favorite restaurants (and campus-wide favorites) such as Salvatores, Greek Express and River City Grill are not included in the dining dollar list. Leaning over her art history textbook, she disappointedly stated “we try at some places but they haven’t set up the swipes yet. I don’t know if they’re going to, but I really hope so.”
Colleen Fallon is not the only person disappointed in Sodexo’s choices.
Manos Orfanopoulos, owner of Greek Express, on 238 and Riverdale avenue expressed his discontentment about the meal plan process over a bowl of lentil soup on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon.
The older Greek man, wearing a blue apron and a pair of oversized eyeglasses, between blows to cool his soup said “Sodexo is so big. The little fish in the big pond don’t matter to them.”
His small, clean restaurant is constantly overflowing with people, making it hard to get a word in with him. And that seems to be what happened when Sodexo officials attempted to induct Greek Express into their meal plan.
Orfanopoulos, clearly interested in a personal, traditional business relationship stated that throughout the first week of September, two men whom he had never seen before came to his restaurant and dropped off a brochure. “I was busy busy” he said; also mentioning the fact that he “had to read it and talk to [his] neighbor (Salvatore’s)."
After reading the brochure, he claims to have called the business and sodexo office here at MC “over a dozen times. All I get is the message machine. I complied with the requests and kept leaving messages, but no one has yet to call me back.”
In an interview with Heather Muhlenbergh, she mentioned that “Greek Express wasn’t interested... maybe they changed their mind.” However, when I mentioned this to Mr. Orfanopoulos, he slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed “they are all lying. What they are telling you is big big lies.”
In both interviews they explained that ten percent of the sale goes back to sodexo, in addition to a ten cent charge along with every swipe.
Orfanopoulos explained how all restaurants “have to pay commission but [sodexo is] charging way too much... It hurts the operator. Credit card companies only charge two to three percent.” Nevertheless, he is “willing to accept it.”
The approachable business owner ended the interview by saying “I believe in a good neighborhood. It’s important to me. I want to accommodate the market and you’re the market. A business relationship is good for everyone, but the bottom line is they never came back and they never called back... I bluntly refuse to call or contact them anymore. If they choose to come, I’d be more than happy to serve the students. I will be here and ready to participate.”
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