Reggie’s Lowers Prices

Concordia Student Bar Makes Menu Changes Shortly After Reopening

NewsJonathan Caragay-Cook — Published January 25, 2016 | Updated January 25, 2016 at 5:20pm

The CSU Internal Affairs Coordinator explains that running the bar and eatery located on the mezzanine of the Hall Building sustainably is her goal.

Just last week, the establishment revealed a new menu with some lowered prices on its Facebook page, barely a month removed from its anticipated reopening.

“We looked at what items were selling and what weren’t,” Dimaria said. “Our intent is to be the cheapest we can.”

Reggie’s reopened in November after a two year hiatus filled with construction, renovations, and many broken promises. Dimaria says opening the bar was the hard part, and now it needs “time to breathe a bit.”

Information is now centralized to one menu which makes it easier to read, Dimaria adds. A greater volume of customers will lead to future price drops, she explains.

Drink price changes:
Martinis – $9 to $7
Cocktail (Single) – $7 to $6
Cocktail (Double) – $9 to $8
Pint of Sleeman – $6 to $5
Pint of St. Ambroise – $6 to $5
All bottled beer – $5.25 to $5

Food price changes:
Spinach & Artichoke dip – $12 to $10
Nachos L/G – $14 to $13
Reggie’s burger – $13 to $12
Vegetarian burger – $11 to $10
Mac & cheese – $12 to $10
Pepperoni & mushroom pizza – $12 to $11
Vegetarian pizza – $12 to $10
All dressed pizza – $12 to $11

There are now weekly specials and new food items like calamari and chicken burgers on the updated menu. Options like cheddar and broccoli soup, butter chicken, and green thai curry have been removed.

Peter Sullivan, a student who returned to Concordia last semester after taking two years off, says the decor has improved from the past incarnation of Reggie’s.

Sullivan says he has friends who own bars and finds it surprising that the CSU were able to lower prices on alcohol. “The prices are great [but] I’m not sure how they’re sustaining that,” he remarked, as he drank a Pabst and was served a bowl of poutine.

Changes in structure

The Reggie’s space is now being offered to student groups and clubs to host events, Dimaria says. They’re developing a new event coordinating and marketing paid position, she adds.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t hire a marketing student or another student with credentials for [the position],” she said. Advertising for the position should begin before reading week, she adds.

On Wednesday, the CSU council will discuss a new proposal to have Reggie’s operate as a for-profit solidarity cooperative like The Hive Café and Burritoville, two projects the CSU partly funded.

Last August, council approved a motion to dissolve the CSU’s for-profit entity CUSACORP, which currently operates Reggie’s. This motion was passed with the original intention to create a not-for-profit entity to replace CUSACORP.