September 19, 2017
Quinita Thomas
Last semester, senior computer science major David Auer liked to eat at Clyde’s after his classes. Auer’s favorite dish to eat while studying was green chili.
“I ended up spending quite a bit of time on campus due to my schedule, and I ended up eating a lot at Clyde’s,” he said. “Their green chili was by far my favorite dish, and I was looking forward to having it this semester as well.”
But this semester, Clyde’s took the green chili off their menu, and Auer was determined to petition the restaurant to bring it back.
Clyde’s, located in UC 119, is open seven days a week and offers a variety of gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, desserts and other menu items that are changed each semester.
The food is popular among students like Auer who enjoy going to the gastropub to work on their studies.
“I work at night, so I usually stay at school for a bit after class to work on my homework. It would be nice to have my favorite lunchtime option available to keep me going strong,” said Auer.
After one day, Auer collected 200 student signatures on a petition to bring back the green chili menu item. Clyde’s informed Auer that green chili would be back on the menu by the spring 2018 semester.
Jordan Zepeda, manager of Clyde’s, said that green chili was taken off the menu due to a lack of interest from student customers.
“The [green chili] sales were not great enough to constitute having it on the menu,” he said. “We sold less than one cup of soup per day.
Auer said that he made announcements in two of his classes and invited people to sign his petition, which brought 50 signatures. Approaching people in person, however, brought about 94 percent of the signatures, according to Auer.
“The real bulk came from just talking to people. If you smile, introduce yourself and ask if they have a minute to talk, most people are willing to hear you out,” he said.
Student input on menu items is valued at Clyde’s and often times taken into consideration by the managers, according to Zepeda.
“We always take student’s input into account when building the menu,” said Zepeda.
“We use sales, direct customer input, web0based customer feedback and the Clyde’s Facebook page to gather information about customer’s wants and needs.”
Students can dine at Clyde’s from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday – Friday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. A late-night menu is offered from 7:30-9 p.m. Monday – Saturday and from 4:30-6 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information on the current menu, students can visit Clyde’s in the University Center or their Facebook page at facebook.com/pg/UCCSClydesPub/about/?ref=page_interna.