Some restaurants just don’t see the point.
Boston University Dining Services added several new on-campus restaurants that accept Convenience Points this year, but several independent restaurants around BU, including T Anthony’s pizzeria and Uburger, still do not accept BU points.
“It would be very cost-prohibitive for BU to try offering more retail dining locations, because at least one dining hall would have to be shut down,” Student Union Vice President Paula Griffin said. “I also don’t feel that it’s worth trying to switch because I think it’s a good experience, especially for freshmen, to roam the dining halls and meet people.”
Students can currently use Dining Points at Late Nite cafes and the Aramark restaurants in the George Sherman Union as well as BU-owned franchises such as the Warren Towers Subway Restaurant, Starbucks Coffee Company locations, the Dunkin’ Donuts at 10 Buick St., Einstein Bros. Bagels and Granby Street Caf’eacute;.
BU partners with Domino’s Pizza locations on Boylston and Cambridge streets and Papa John’s Pizza on Tremont and Washington streets for retail Dining Point delivery.
Some restaurant owners said Dining Points would hurt rather than help their business. Kenmore Square Uburger co-owner Nick Kesaris said about 60 to 70 percent of Kesaris’s customers are BU students, but he does not think working with the BU dining program will increase his profit margins.
“We actually inquired about the dining system when we first opened in 2006, but from what I understood, BU doesn’t accept any independent restaurants into the program unless they are owned by BU,” Kesaris said. “I’d obviously take the opportunity if the pricing were correct, though. I think it’d just be easier for the kids.”
T Anthony’s co-owner Joe Rastellini said he fears his business would suffer if included in the BU retail dining program because of what happened to Baldini’s Pizzeria, a small Kenmore Square restaurant that temporarily replaced Domino’s in BU’s retail dining program in 1998.
Baldini’s soon went out of business, struggling to handle the overwhelming number of orders from BU students, Rastellini said.
“I just worry that because I sell pizza and most of the business is done by delivery, it might affect my regular customer base because I would become inundated with deliveries for BU students,” he said.
Papa John’s, one of BU’s partners in the retail dining delivery program, has picked up business since it signed on with Dining Services, restaurant manager Tony Torres said.
BU’s partnership with Papa John’s has led to a “little decrease” in sales at Domino’s Pizza, BU’s delivery Partner since 1991, according to Boylston Street Domino’s manager Carlos Proano.
Domino’s still benefits from business with BU, Proano said, because about 50 percent of the stores’ sales come from students who use their Terrier Cards.
Dining Services representatives were unavailable for comment.