After months of renovation at the Rock Café, Ferris’ allergen-friendly food spot has reopened as the Minus 9 station.
This station is made specifically for students and people with any food allergies, offering up a variety of foods from sandwiches, to burgers, to stir fry and much more.
Minus 9 offers similar ingredients to the Mongolian Grill inside the Rock, excluding nine ingredients such as shellfish, peanuts, dairy-free cheese, gluten, fruits and vegetables, etc.
Rock employee Ian Corp works at the station, using the grills and taking the orders.
“We also have a little bit of every other station so like we have a little bit of deli meat from the deli. So we can do sandwiches over here,” explained Corp. “Then we can do burgers for people that have allergies who want a burger. We do pasta, about a little bit of everything. I would say our ingredients are mostly defined by our stir fried stuff.”
But despite having a small piece of every station in the Rock, few people have bothered to stop and take a look.
“I think part of the issue is that we’ve kind of trained people to not look at the station, realize it’s open because this place was closed for remodel,” said Corp. “And then it got opened up again and then the place wasn’t open for a month after that. But I think that’s the sort of thing that’ll solve itself as time goes on.”
For those who don’t know how the station works, Minus 9 follows the same tactics as the breakfast omelet station both at the Rock and the Quad. Students can fill out a sheet with their name on the top. Then, you circle what you want from the list of entrees. Finally, circle the ingredients you would like to have in your meal.
“I think it’s a good addition to the Rock,” Criminal justice junior Paul Saran said. “It helps people who have allergies to be more separated from the food and less worried and more at peace. I’ve seen lots of people go. A couple of my friends have gone as well.”
Many food stations around the Rock would include small warning symbols below the name of the food served, warning people about their contents. Minus 9 includes none of that. All while putting people with allergies at ease.
People without allergies could also take part in what Minus 9 has to offer. It includes a wide variety of ingredients, from different kinds of meat to a range of sauce options.
Attendance has been low and not many people have noticed it. Rock employee Jen Willison has witnessed very few people use it.
“I’ve seen like two or three people but not as many as there should be,” Willison said. “I wish it was more than what we have.”
Although it is a next-door neighbor to the Italian Oven and the Island salad bar, the Minus 9 station lacks much student traffic. It seems that in the days when it was unoccupied before it opened, people started to ignore the station entirely. So when it did open, people hardly noticed a thing.
In the days that he’s worked at Minus 9, Corp has seen a fair amount of people place their orders. On weekends the attendance numbers increase some.
“It varies some days barely get anything and other days, I get pretty busy on the weekends. But most orders I’ve ever gotten in one day is twenty,” Corp said.
Minus 9 is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Rock Café.