Staff plans to turn dBs into a fast-food style catering offering in an attempt to improve its fortunes were rejected by the Executive Committee on Friday, but the same offers are being put into place in da Vinci's.
Staff were asked to come up with a rescue plan in the face of falling sales and had secured the backing of Rollover, Britvic and Ben & Jerry's for the proposed plan. dBs itself was to receive a clean and not much else, but the revamped lunchtime venue would have offered food from 10am-3pm, with the key components being new hot-dogs, burgers and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
Food will not be served in dBs for the time being, after some members of the Executive Committee felt the plan was too financially risky without major changes to the ambience of dBs. The venue was in good condition following a repaint over the summer but has deteriorated since then, in part due to a number of foam parties which wrecked the floor and have required parts of it to be replaced.
It was hoped that promotional offers and a flyering campaign could bring people over to dBs, with the more entrepreneurial members of Exec believing it was worth a go. In the end concerns that people would come back but leave again due to the state of the venue resulted in the Executive Committee halting the plan, with a recommendation that the new products be introduced in da Vinci's instead. This was a decisive decision, with the committee split fairly evenly.
dBs was originally opened as an overflow for da Vinci's, providing much-needed additional seating and reducing queues next door. Since the refurbished JCR opened at the start of the year this extra overflow space appears to be redundant, with dBs empty most days. At the height of the sandwhich bar both da Vinci's and dBs were packed every lunchtime - the fact this no longer happens speaks volumes about the number of visitors to the union between 12 and 2.
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