Bagels are convenient.  After Einstein Bagels left the UCOM building, speculation swarmed the Wilkes grapevine.  What will replace the Einstein establishment? A Panera Bread café? A fast-food chain? I thought of a different idea each time I passed the place.  I strolled past the UCOM the other day, and lo and behold, there was a clone of Rifkin Café in the SUB.

I enjoy Rifkin café just as anyone else.  What I don’t enjoy is a lack of variety.  You would laugh if they built a McDonalds, then built another one fifty feet down the street.  I know this is America, but come on! It’s too much.

The same bagels, sandwiches and wraps are all there in the UCOM again.  It’s no surprise that these common foodstuffs can be picked up at the Sodexo cafeteria in the SUB as well.  It gets better: if I want a break, I could always head down to the square, but then again, Dunkin Donuts also has bagels and sandwiches; another establishment just feeding into the uniformity.

The monotony of food choices here at Wilkes is ridiculous.  I find myself walking to Crown Fried Chicken to find something that’s not a bagel or wrap.  I want to experience this thing called convenience that other colleges have.  So the two points above are not complicated, right?  I would like creativity and convenience; a creative eating establishment in a convenient location.

Wilkes has a convenient location at the UCOM.  Why not place an establishment there that would actually be unique?  The school could ask students through surveys which place to eat was their favorite.  The  faculty and all other staff members could be asked as well.

The UCOM location has its advantages.  Residents of University Towers apartments are right across the street.  Proximity to the rest of the campus would allow ease of access for students and faculty.  Crown Fired Chicken is a full half mile away and off-campus, making it a more dangerous and inconvenient spot.

So let’s review.  The clone of the Rifkin cafe in the UCOM building is not looking to win your business.  They offer the same foods as the Sodexo cafeteria and Dunkin Donuts.  It would not be that difficult to come up with a student and faculty approved idea for the UCOM space.  The space is clean, convenient and safe; a perfect venue for a decent establishment.

When Einstein’s Bagels left the UCOM, I hoped for a new business that would be worthy of my Wilkes flex dollars and cash. So far, Wilkes has failed to deliver.  I know this school has a strongly opinionated student body, so let us draw on the masses and find a real restaurant for the UCOM.