Students eating at St. Thomas’ Scooter’s restaurant aren’t getting their usual pile of chips when they order a wrap or burger. Instead, a salad or grain option has been the standard side since the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

The grain dishes now offered are imported from countries like China and Japan, Ramona White, Scooter’s day supervisor, said. The sides consist of couscous, quinoa, barley, and other varieties of grains and will rotate on about a five-day basis.

“People have constantly said, ‘We want healthier choices,’” White said. “Now you’re going to get that salad, or you’re going to get this grain dish. They’re extremely healthy.”

Junior Amy Steingas said she was surprised by the change.

“It just seemed odd that you get this random plate of lettuce with your food,” Steingas said. “They don’t really say anything about it, so the first time you get it you’re like, ‘Thanks … are you trying to tell me something?’”

Graduate student Kathryn Carrier said she thinks the change is positive.

“I like the salad,” Carrier said. “I was super impressed when I got that. It seems like they’re trying to be a little more thoughtful about sides.”

The sides are not the only change to Scooter’s menu. The restaurant has also downsized its variety. It will no longer offer certain sandwiches, including chicken, steak or fish sandwiches. The taco salad has also been cut from the menu. However, many of the items lost, such as the fish sandwich and taco salad, will now be served at T’s restaurant.

Gayle Lamb, operations manager for Dining Services, said the lack of functionality in Scooter’s new kitchen facilities is partly to blame for the menu downgrade. There is inoperable counter space because the new pizza oven requires a six-foot-long pizza peel to take out the pie. The restaurant also has limited refrigeration space.

“In our new kitchen, we are not able to function as well as we would want to,” Lamb said.

White said after assessing the facility’s capabilities, the restaurant had to make a decision on its menu options.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that we just can’t provide all the different choices,” White said. “So let’s be good at several things, 15 items instead of 20.”

Scooter’s cook Tom Herschbach said the restaurant’s future is going to be focused around a variety of one thing: pizza.

“Kind of like Punch (Neapolitan Pizza), we want to specialize in pizza,” Herschbach said.

“We have a fabulous, showy (pizza) oven, and we want to utilize that. It’s one of our best features,” White said. “Because of the location it’s in, we can’t move it, we can’t change it, so we want to build off of it.”

White said she hopes the variety of pizza options will draw students to the restaurant.

“We want people to come forward and say, ‘Hey I want a crazy pizza made with crazy stuff,’ and we’re going to be able to do it,” White said.

With all the changes going on at Scooter’s, employees are optimistic about the year ahead.

“We are looking forward to a great year,” White said.

Laura Landvik can be reached at land7854@stthomas.edu.