Einstein Bros Bagels has had tremendous success so far in its first year at Lasell College, but can they keep up with the high demand of students? Problems are coming from the slow service and inconvenient hours.
For most, an average wait time between waiting in line and then waiting for their food or coffee once ordered, is about 10 to 15 minutes, often making students late for class when they thought they had ample time. A lot of students would like to grab coffee quickly before class but know that they won’t have time if there are more than a few people in line.
Not only does it seem that Einstein is overwhelmed by the excess of students at one time, but it is as if they don’t care about speed when they are not busy. “One time I waited in line for almost ten minutes for them to take my order and there was no one else in line,” said Shapleigh Webster. It seems as though they are not conscious of the speed that students expect when they order. The question is whether Einstein is still trying to learn how things work, as they are only in their fifth week of being open, or if they just don’t care.
Not only is the service itself presenting a problem, but so are the hours. Einstein is open from 8:00am-8:00pm on weekdays, and 11:00am-6:00pm on weekends. This means that during the week, students who have class at 8:00am can’t go to Einstein beforehand, and students who have class during the dining hall’s dinner hours don’t have a favorable place to eat when they get out of class. Boomers Grill is open 7:30pm-12:00am, but the menu is small and the options are unhealthy. On the weekends, the dining hall itself doesn’t open until 11:30am, so students that wake up before 11:00am, when Einstein opens, don’t have a place on campus to eat or get food before leaving for work. Students want the business to tailor its hours to meet the needs of Lasell.
Miranda McCrea explained “Einstein’s food is better than the dining hall, but you have to wait between 10 to 20 minutes at any point in the day just to get your food. It’s understaffed. The hours are also extremely inconvenient. They need to be open a lot later on weekdays and a lot earlier on weekends.” The potential convenience of Einstein Bros Bagels for students is lost due to the lack of proficiency and minimal hours.