The University of Oklahoma's Housing and Food Services realized they had an image problem.
Every year on customer satisfaction surveys, Food Services would get great ratings on everything except for health.
That freshman 15 just kept coming.
Housing and Food Services will open The Laughing Tomato Aug. 18 to serve healthy alternatives in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.
The restaurant will serve pre-made dishes that focus on being healthy, using local products with no added hormones and providing vegetarian and vegan foods. It will take the place of Taco Mayo in the food court, next to Quiznos, Wong Key, Chick-Fil-A and Sbarro, and be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Housing and Food services decided to launch the restaurant to provide the healthy food options students wanted. They had tried other means to get students to eat better. Housing and Food Services has been providing healthy options at its restaurants for years and is completely trans-fat free.
Last year H--FS launched a marketing campaign to let people know about the healthy eating options on campus.
But to no avail. At the end of the year, the surveys showed that students still didn't think OU's food services were healthy.
"It really made very little impact," said Kevin Barker, director of retail operations for Housing and Food Services. He said he blames the easy availability of unhealthier food on campus. Customers focus on those foods and don't notice the healthier options, like at Couch Cafeteria, he said.
"You can eat so healthy there," he said of the cafeteria. "We have a huge salad bar, but it's right next to a huge sweet bar."
And sometimes salads aren't as exciting as fried foods. For example, Cate A La Carte has healthy wraps available, in addition to hot foods. But Barker said the items that are consistently the best sellers are macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy and chicken strips.
So this restaurant will be different. Everything will be a healthy choice.
"We wanted to take away where they have to figure out what's healthy," Barker said.
The Laughing Tomato will serve nutritious soups, salads, wraps and tomato dishes with locally grown tomatoes.
The dishes are all new to Housing and Food Services, and some are a bit original. One that T.J. Carter, manager of Laughing Tomato, said will probably be the best seller is called "Best Date Ever." It's a wrap with peanut butter, honey, dates and banana.
That's the item that Ryan Trevino said was his favorite.
"That was outstanding; It was by far my favorite dish," he said.
As information technology representative for Student Affairs, he got to attend a taste testing of The Laughing Tomato dishes in early May. Other memorable dishes included roasted edamame, tabouli and hummus.
Trevino said all the food he tried was great, and he plans to eat at The Laughing Tomato when it opens.
"I think it's a great complement and alternative to what they have in the Union," he said.
Another focus of the restaurant will be on providing ready-made food so students won't have to wait in long lines. Lines at Quiznos in the food court can last for 30 minutes or more during the lunch rush. The only other take-and-go restaurant in the Union is Chick-Fil-A.
"The lines get so long in this building," Carter said. "... Hopefully that will reduce some of the wait."
In addition to being good for the body, the restaurant also will try to be good for the environment. The food purchased will use sustainable practices and the containers will be made with compostable materials.
With all the attention placed on eating healthy, organic and natural these days, it just made sense to start The Laughing Tomato, officials said.
"It took longer to come up with the name," than the idea for the restaurant, Barker said.
Originally Barker was going to do a naming contest, like Housing and Food Services has done in the past. But the H--FS staff has learned that that's not always a good idea.
For the restaurant at the National Weather Center, a naming contest ended up naming it The Flying Cow, a reference to the movie "Twister." That is a good name, Barker said, but the runner-up for the contest was Moist Tongue, and no one would want to eat there.
They were looking at a Will Rogers quote, "An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh," Barker said. And H--FS employee Chris Kaeser responded: "But tomatoes make you laugh."
Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com
Local Business
August 2, 2008
Restaurant appeals to stomach, funny bone
- Local Business
-
-
Review: Apple's iPad not just a bigger iPod Touch
SAN FRANCISCO -- After just an hour with an iPad, I came away with a preliminary verdict: Despite some flaws, this is one slick device.
Steve Jobs intrigued me in his slow, showman-like presentation Wednesday when he said the $499-and-up iPad is "so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone. -
People in business
Allyson Crank has been named employee of the month at First State Bank's Noble location.
Crank, loan operations assistant/loan teller since June 2008, joined the bank's staff in 2007. A Noble High School graduate, she studied mathematics while attending the University of Oklahoma. -
Norman lawyer goes to the doghouse with beef jerky
Norman lawyer and small business owner Dave Stockwell has been making private label beef jerky for years.
He started off in his garage, but his passion for smoking and curing round steak has led to the occupation of a commercial facility in the Oklahoma City metro area. - Moore passes $2M tax rebate for Target The City of Moore's Economic Development Authority voted unanimously Monday evening to approve a sales tax rebate to Target Corporation, who wants to build a 135,000-square-foot retail store on SW 19th Street west of Fritts Boulevard in Moore.
-
Me? An idiot? Finance titles to raise your IQ
Once you get past the hesitancy of buying a book written for dummies or idiots, you can get some very practical information out of the titles in these series.
Penguin Publishers, provider of The Complete Idiot's Guide series, has dozens of business and personal finance titles. - Claim your e-mail privacy Have you ever read a message on a postcard that was not addressed to you? It was right there, in the open, so, how could it have been avoided? Maybe, at least once in your life, you've held an envelope up to the light, hoping to read its contents.
-
County real estate
Real estate sales of $100,000 and above, as recorded by the office of Cleveland County Clerk, Tammy Howard.
Feb. 8-12
Lot 7, Block 5, Briarwood Creek, $165,000. Buyer, Jason and Lorie Wenger. Seller, Scott and Dawn Hubbard. - Chamber of Commerce, Norman NEXT to co-host candidate forum Feb. 24 The Norman Chamber of Commerce Get Out The Vote Committee and Norman NEXT, Norman's young professionals organization, have announced plans to co-host a candidate forum for the mayoral and city council candidates.
- People in business Michael Mohr, owner of Mohr Construction LLC, has completed the required EPA certified training class in the Renovation, Repair and Painting rules that go into effect April, 2010, dealing with lead base paint removal and handling in buildings built prior to 1978.
-
People in business
DeBee Gilchrist recently announced that Blaine M. Peterson, Norman, has been named a shareholder of the firm.
Peterson's practice encompasses a broad range of business matters, including tax planning and controversies, comprehensive estate planning and business valuation. - More Local Business Headlines
-
Review: Apple's iPad not just a bigger iPod Touch
SAN FRANCISCO -- After just an hour with an iPad, I came away with a preliminary verdict: Despite some flaws, this is one slick device.
