By Katie Ball, News Correspondent
The Au Bon Pain (ABP) of Northeastern is a prominent on-campus eatery in the Marino Center that provides the
student body, as well as the surrounding community, with the comfort of a variety of different sandwiches, soups and salads for the everyday meal.
The traditional menu of this location has been altered through the addition of a few items and a change in some of the sandwich ingredients. ABP implemented these changes Nov. 3.
ABP Marketing Manager Brandon Rigolini said they have “revamped all of the sandwiches” in the new menu, not yet available at every ABP location.
“Northeastern is one of the first locations to roll out this new menu,” Rigolini said.
This menu now includes many “just better” ingredients including fresh sliced avocado and some healthier, all natural meats.
Rigolini said the corporate chefs at ABP have been working behind the scenes for a while to create a menu that would intrigue and refresh customers’ palates as well as represent themselves as “a leader in the fast-casual restaurant” industry.
Northeastern ABP’s manager Said Salhi told The News that many changes were made to the whole menu.
Some of the changes to the menu include the specific spreads within a sandwich. According to Salhi, the previous menu held a large variety of spreads even though some were only used for one or two particular sandwiches. What was originally a selection of 12 or so spreads is now seven.
According to press documents, the reworked menu also includes 10 original sandwiches, including the new grilled chicken avocado.
“We tried to clean it up a bit,” Salhi said in response to the cutback on the variety.
Because of this, some students might be disappointed to learn that it is possible one of their favorite spreads is now gone from the Northeastern ABP menu.
The new menu also includes an entire “revamping” of 11 sandwiches and an addition of soups mainly to present some healthy yet tasty items. One new inclusion is the addition of flatbread sandwiches to the menu, which is a significant change to the traditional breads offered, and only available at the Northeastern ABP at the moment.
To go along with this movement, ABP added slightly more expensive meats such as antibiotic-free turkey breast and all natural chicken breast.
When asked whether they could determine any difference in their sandwiches, many customers were unaware of any detectable changes.
One customer in particular, junior Sean Attri, said, “I don’t know whether it made it better, but it’s good,” before taking another bite of his half-finished sandwich.
One other change is the slight adjustments in pricing of some of the menu items. Salhi said the Northeastern ABP is aware of the economic situation of the country and of its particular customers, mainly Northeastern students, who, due to certain financial circumstances, may not be able to afford a delicious sandwich or wrap at a higher price. In response to this, ABP attempted to create a menu that offers good quality items in a budget-friendly way.
“We’re dedicated to putting out the best food possible,” Rigolini said.
The sandwiches at Au Bon Pain at Marino Center must still be very good as, the answer received when customers were asked to discuss their particular experience was an almost unanimous “not now, I’m eating.”
