Cafe draws patrons despite prices

By Michael Riordan

Published on Thursday, February 2, 2012

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With the opening of the King Arthur Flour cafe in Baker-Berry Library last June, the award-winning bakery’s on-campus site joined the Bagel Basement shop located in Dartmouth Medical School as the only other independently run dining establishment on campus. King Arthur Flour — which accepts Declining Balance Account but not meal swipes — has now replaced Novack Cafe as the center of student activity, according to students.

King Arthur Flour applied to use the space early in 2011 after the College had an open request for proposals, according to Bill Tine, King Arthur Flour director of customer strategy.

“Dartmouth went through a fairly thorough selection process,” Tine said.

Following renovations of Baker Main Hall, administrators “felt that a service provider like KAF would help create the kind of atmosphere conducive to students gathering, socializing and exchanging thoughts and ideas,” College Director of Media Relations Justin Anderson said in an email to The Dartmouth.

The College and King Arthur Flour agreed to terms after the cafe was selected for the location in spring 2011. These terms placed King Arthur Flour under the umbrella of the College’s DBA system but not its meal plan, according to Tine.

The contract prevents the cafe from selling competing food products, bottled beverages and items that “duplicate what can be found at Novack Cafe,” Anderson said. Both the menu and hours of operation are meant to promote the social quality of the area, rather than to create a dining space.

Tine said he expected that the College knew that revenues from Novack, which is also located in Baker-Berry, would suffer as a result of King Arthur Flour’s opening.

“I would assume that if you put someone next door selling similar things, there would be less revenue,” he said. “But I don’t know if they look at it like Novack did this much, King Arthur did that much and so on.”

Daily traffic to King Arthur Flour has been difficult to measure because the academic calendar does not permit a consistent flow of customers, according to Tine.

“Exam week is really heavy because so many people are in the library,” he said. “During the beginning of the term and after breaks there are fewer people.”

Many students interviewed by The Dartmouth expressed satisfaction with both King Arthur Flour’s location and the quality of its food options, and said they willingly opt to purchase food from the cafe rather than use meal swipes elsewhere.

Gabriela Josebachvili ’15, who said she likes “King Arthur Flour more than oxygen,” frequents the cafe up to twice a day and said she considers King Arthur Flour the best dining option on campus.

“Their location within the library is very convenient, so I can go while I study,” she said. “Their coffee is the best coffee on campus — certainly better than Novack, which is the only other place to eat in the library.”

Josebachvili said she switched from the SmartChoice dining plan offering 20 meals per week — which members of the Class of 2015 were required to purchase during their first term — to the option of five meals per week in order to spend more on meals at the cafe this term.

“On the 20-meal plan, I would just get coffee because meals were too expensive,” she said. “Now I can get a sandwich or salad without feeling bad.”

Phoebe Palmer ’14 said that King Arthur Flour’s main draw is its central location on campus.

“Location is probably the biggest factor — I honestly like Collis much better,” she said. “If King Arthur Flour wasn’t in the library, I probably would barely go there.”

The relatively high price of items, with sandwiches costing around seven dollars with the addition of tax, is not a deterrent from eating at the cafe, she said. The College does not influence the price of items sold by independent vendors on campus, according to Anderson.

“King Arthur Flour is definitely expensive,” Palmer said. “I’m from New York City, so I feel like I’m not as shocked by an eight or nine-dollar sandwich as I should be.”

Zachary Myslinski ’15 said he has only been to the cafe five times since the start of Fall term, often due to the long wait.

“Not only is the food expensive, but the lines are ridiculously inconvenient,” he said. “It’s more of a social space to meet people than a study area.”