KYLEE LARY
PHOTOGRAPHER
DARCY DAENZER
LAYOUT EDITOR
9/11/2023
After much anticipation, the Loch Lomond café featuring Qdoba and Mac’s Grill is open in the Learning Commons.
As with the old Joe’s, one half of the Loch Lomond café is also a convenience store, offering snacks, drinks and products that allow for a quick and easy-to-make meal.
While the café is a welcome addition to Alma College’s campus, some students were disappointed to find out that Qdoba and Mac’s Grill didn’t take meal swipes when they opened. However, Micah Braman, the General Manager of the Food Service Management Team at Alma assures that the restaurants will take meal swipes in the near future.
“I’m hoping by…mid-next week I’ll have that information and we’ll start integrating [meal swipes],” said Braman.
Metz was hoping to have Qdoba and Mac’s take meal swipes when they opened, but it can be complicated implementing this type of program with a brand-new business.
“There’s just a lot on the back end that has to be figured out based on contractual stuff, so it just takes a minute. But we’ll get it up and running,” said Braman.
While the Loch Lomond café has taken longer than students wished to be fully functioning, Braman and Metz have always had students’ best interests in mind. They want everything to run as smoothly as the students do. This is why they are committed to getting meal swipes for the dining area as soon as possible.
Currently, the menu for Qdoba offers everything that any other Qdoba would have, including burritos, bowls, nachos and chips and queso. They even offer breakfast burritos from 9:30am-11:00am.
As for Mac’s Grill, they currently offer wings, sandwiches, salads, burgers and French fries with the possibility of offering other options in the future.
“We will broadline into a special every week [and] we’ll do specials daily. We’re maybe even going to change the concept up every now and again…We kept it versatile so we could…change it up to keep things fresh,” said Braman.
These concepts could include anything from a grinder station to toasted subs – it all depends on student interest and where Metz feels there is a need to fill.
All you need to do to order from Mac’s is to go up to the checkout counter and choose from the options they have displayed next to the register. You will receive a slip with your order on it which you can turn in to the cooks at Mac’s.
Braman also discussed the not-so-distant possibility of having Grubhub on campus in a couple of weeks, which will allow for curbside pickup and delivery to dorms. Right now, Metz is working on staffing because when this program rolls out, many students will no doubt want to jump on this opportunity as soon as possible.
Metz just wants to make sure everything is running smoothly before anything is rolled out. “I want to make sure it’s working right before we take a swing at it…We’re always open to suggestions,” said Braman. “We want to make sure…everybody gets what they need, and if we can help in any way, shape or form, we will.”
