Fair Trade Cafe has decided to extend their Better Earth menu to their location on Roosevelt Street and North First Avenue, behind the Trinity Cathedral, following a successful run at its Civic Space Park locale.
The program, which is offered at a discounted price to students, began Tuesday at the Roosevelt location, about a month after it was first tested at Fair Trade’s other location.
Fair Trade owner and ASU professor Michele White has received positive feedback regarding their lunch special. White explained that Fair Trade “make(s) a limited number of lunches to avoid waste, (which is) another goal of ours, as the food industry creates the most waste in this country, and yesterday we sold out in 30 minutes.”
The lunch menu’s extension has been expected, explained head chef Ingrid Hirtz, saying, “We wanted to have it over there anyway, but we had to make sure it was successful here first.”
“It was always our intention to expand the Better Earth menu to Roosevelt,” White said. “Our goal is to provide socially conscious, healthy, affordable meal options to as many people as possible.”
The lunch specials offered at Fair Trade Cafe vary from day-to-day, Hirtz said, with the exception of a few dish repeats such as the mixed green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette, which accompanies different dishes.
According to Hirtz, the majority of cooking is done at the Civic Space Park location; Fair Trade owners plan to have meals prepared there and transported to the Roosevelt location. Daily specials will be the same at each location, Hirtz and White said.
Earlier this summer, cafe officials spoke about possibly offering a pre-paid meal plan for students, but Hirtz and White decided not to implement the plan.
“We did not get the response we had hoped for,” White said.
However, the company would like to develop a similar plan more suitable for students, since they “received great feedback,” White said.
“Our goal was to offer meals for five dollars to students. It’s tight planning, though,” Hirtz said of the old meal plan idea.
Fair Trade employee Melissa Marriott reported a noticeable increase in business due to the lunch special.
“Anything with ginger, garlic or tofu sells really well, and the things that look pretty and colorful usually sell well,” Marriott said.
White said she thinks that the Civic Space location is more convenient to students during typical lunch hours.
“I don’t think we will see a big jump at Roosevelt in students as a result of the Better Earth lunch special,” she said, adding that she mostly sees “students at the Roosevelt location in the evenings, studying and after the Park location is closed.”
Elizabeth Venable, ASU alumna and frequenter of Fair Trade, thinks the menu expansion will be successful since the Roosevelt location is near the art galleries and appears to see more traffic.
Contact the reporter at carolina.m.lopez@asu.edu
