Returning Mercer students are expressing concerns surrounding The Drop for its prices, lack of meal exchange options and its replacement of Which Wich and Brewed Awakenings.
The Drop, an on-campus dining option in the Connell Student Center, hosts various menu options from barbeque, açaí bowls and sandwiches.
Numerous returning students were surprised to find that two dining options, Which Wich and Brewed Awakenings, had been removed when they returned to campus while The Drop took their place.
“I got Brewed Awakenings especially during winter time, because they brought back seasonal drinks. It was amazing, it tasted good,” Shourya Dhruv ‘27 said. “They closed it down and the money they got for that they basically put into The Drop, I'm guessing.”
The removed dining options served various purposes for students, especially Brewed Awakenings. In a partnership with coffee company Starbucks, the small store was the only specialized coffee house on campus.
Maya Lee ‘26 said that students looking for specialized coffee now look to ZBeans, a coffee shop in Mercer Village. Currently, ZBeans does not accept dining dollars or meal exchanges, something that Which Wich did take. The coffee machine that has taken Brewed Awakenings’ accepts the same payment methods as Brewed Awakenings: dining dollars, bear bucks and credit cards.
“They have this rule of either paying with a card or you can do your Bear Bucks, but the majority of people don't have Bear Bucks, so they’re just gonna spend their actual money,” Lee said. “It feels like it's some type of ploy to get money.”
Meal exchanges allow students to order from on-campus restaurants without using their own money or dining dollars. However, Lee claims that various menu options at The Drop do not allow for meal exchanges, necessitating customers to use a non-preferred payment option.
“You got to pay for the sides, pay for the bread you get on your sandwich, you have to pay a lot of money,” student Brielle McLean ‘26 said. “And I'm just like, everything is really expensive there, very suspiciously over the amount that it costs to use your meal swipes.”
