Restaurant Week served 3,000 students, USG reports

The USG praised its first Restaurant Week at its Senate meeting Sunday night, noting the positive response from both the restaurants and the students who ate there.

According to Campus and Community Affairs Committee chair Carmina Mancenon ’14, nearly 3,000 meals were served to University students over the course of the week at 10 restaurants on Nassau Street. Class of 2014 senator Charissa Shen said one restaurant, The Ferry House, has already decided to continue its Restaurant Week deal indefinitely.

The committee said Restaurant Week was a success because it leveled the playing field financially for all students, improved mental health on campus since students were able to take a longer break from work for a meal with friends, gave students an incentive to leave the Orange Bubble and provided student activity groups with the chance for social gatherings and bonding time.

Though Restaurant Week only just ended, the committee is already discussing plans for how to improve the event for next year. Mancenon, who is currently running for USG vice president, noted that the continuity of the event would be decided by the next CCA Committee chair.

“We talked about having two price points, a $12 and a $25, because even $25, for some, can be a stretch financially ... and [also] expanding it to both lunch and dinner,” U-Councilor Elektra Alivisatos '14 said. She added that the committee would also start advertising earlier and have some sort of thermometer online to show how quickly the restaurants were being booked. The CCA Committee also hopes to find out how many individual students take part in the event.

The committee said that much of the success of the week can be attributed to the event's website, which was created by CCA Committee member Austin Jackson ’15.

“The website really shocked us,” Jackson said, adding that the website recorded about 8,000 visits and more than 35,000 page views. “This isn’t something that’s been up for a while. We just launched it the week before Restaurant Week."

Regardless, students clearly took advantage of the opportunity.

“I think this is one of the most successful projects that the USG has ever done," Class of 2013 senator Andrew Blumenfeld said. "I hope that whoever has a say-so will make this thing happen again next semester.”

Additionally, the Food Committee updated the USG on the status of its projects, which include conducting a comprehensive survey of food-related activities of independent students on campus, improving late meal and bringing affordable fresh produce to campus.

An update was also given on the status of the "Pursuit of Mappyness," a new USG app that will be like the Prospect Avenue Map except it will include events happening all around campus.

"It will give students a one-stop shop for knowing what resources are available to them, when and where,” USG communications director Andy Martens ’13 said.

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Martens said the app is now entering final production stages and should be released during reading period. He is also the former director of blogs and social media for The Daily Princetonian.

The USG also recapped Monday’s meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community. At that meeting, CPUC and community members met with the University's presidential search committee to discuss the qualities they hope to see in the next president.

At its next meeting, the USG plans to evaluate its Hoodie Allen concert this past Friday, the project that sent buses to Yale for last week’s football game, the bonfire and the forums to potentially modify the Thanksgiving break schedule. It also plans to recap USG elections, which start today at noon and continue until Wednesday.