Colorful Cupcake Options

Students across campus find Grill useful when in need of a quick bite to eat during the busy day. It provides a wide variety of food, from smoothies to pretzels to pizza, but sometimes students are so busy that they miss all the choices Grill has to offer. About two weeks ago, the chefs at Grill decided upon a new treat to offer: cupcakes.The cupcakes come in a multitude of flavors and themes, ranging from chocolate decadence to a play-doh cupcake. Grill is offering students the option to either buy cupcakes on an individual basis or pre-order them by the half-dozen and dozen. This provides a convenient way for students to share a tasty snack with their friends, classes, clubs or dorms.The idea to sell cupcakes in Grill was the brainchild of Associate Director of Dining Services Melinda Leonard. “We have been thinking about being able to offer these treats-to-go for students and family for awhile,” she said. “The cupcakes are made fresh and students can pre-order large quantities in advance.”Grill chefs work as a team to make these delicious creations. “It’s been a group effort—the guy who works at night, Smiley, gets the cupcakes made and I frost and fill them in the morning,” short-order Grill cook Cathy Stebbins said.Cooks at Grill collaborated on flavors that they thought students would enjoy the most, such as Death by Chocolate, Salted Caramel Cream, Peanut Butter and Jelly and more.“We all sat down and Bob the Grill manager, Smiley and myself threw up different ideas on what we could make and played around with some of the recipes until we came up with what we liked,” Stebbins said.“Well I’ve only had one but I think it was a tad expensive. The cupcake I had was really good though. It was a little weird because it was a play-doh cupcake and at first bite actually tasted a little bit like play-doh sweetened with Splenda, not Stevia or Truvia, but only Splenda. I can’t wait to try another, especially the one that looks like it has pad thai as frosting on top,” upper Sabrina Movitz said.A particular advantage of these new treats is that students can order different quantities of cupcakes for events 72 hours in advance by calling the Grill number 603-777-3493. Students can also buy one cupcake in grill for $2.50, a half dozen for $12.95 or a dozen for $19.95.“I think it’s a good idea that students can order ahead of time, but students are also too busy and forgetful to actually call early,” upper Anjali Banerjee said.Although students may not know about this new addition to the menu, employees hope students will notice and use this new aspect of Grill to their advantage.“I haven’t actually had the chance to try any of the cupcakes yet, but they look nice. They seem a little pricey but I guess that is because they are made fresh,” Banerjee said.“It’s been a slow start but I think we need to market this better so more students will become aware. We were thinking about using the radio station too or even if we had some kind of contest that could draw the attention that we are selling them,” Grill counter worker Trish Taylor said. “I think students are so busy that sometimes they don’t have time to stop and see them.”