Renjie Butalid

This article originally appeared in Imprint, University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper
- September 1, 2008

by Suzanne Gardner

Aussies, the Feds-owned convenience store, recently received the green light of funding approval allowing the business to move to a hopefully more lucrative location in the Student Life Centre (SLC).

In recent years, Aussies’ profit margins have been much lower in comparison to other Feds businesses, such as the popular Bombshelter pub.

Currently located on the lower level of the SLC, next to the Used Bookstore and across from the Campus Cove arcade, Aussies will be relocated beside the Feds office on the main level of the SLC across from Tim Hortons. The store will occupy the space which is currently home to both The CREW and the volunteer office, and it will also expand slightly into the lounge area of the Feds office.

In conjunction with the Aussies relocation, there is also a plan in the works to move the main entrance of the Feds office to the Great Hall. Feds vice-president administration and finance, Renjie Butalid, explains that the Feds “have an open concept design in mind where students will be able to ‘look’ into [the office] through the glass walls from the Great Hall.”

When asked about the timeline for this project, Butalid said that the bid process for architectural design firms will begin this September and a final conceptual drawing will be completed by the end of 2006. If everything goes according to schedule, the bid process for a construction firm will begin in January, so that renovations can begin by May of next year in order and the grand opening can take place in September 2007.

Along with location changes, Feds also plans to make improvements to Aussies’ product lines and hours of operation. Currently the store offers everything from candy to stamps to dry cleaning services from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

When asked about how all of these changes will benefit both Aussies specifically — and Feds in general — Butalid references similar monetary troubles encountered by McMaster University a few years prior: “McMaster operated a convenience store that was in a similar financial situation to ours. However, when the opportunity arose for them, they relocated their convenience store to a much higher traffic area, and within a couple of years, they were able to increase their sales levels by more than 100 per cent.”

Additionally, as Aussies will no longer be in the basement of the SLC, Butalid mentions that the store will no longer be considered “Down Under” and thus a name change will be in order. Watch for a contest in the coming months to decide on the best new name for the business.

This article originally appeared in Imprint, University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper
- September 1, 2006

by Suzanne Gardner

Finally, the long summer drought has come to an end: five months and approximately $675,000 later, the Bombshelter pub will reopen for business at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, September 11.

A week and a half prior to the highly-awaited reopening, Federation of Students vice-president of administration and finance Renjie Butalid granted Imprint a special sneak peek at the many changes to both the layout and menu of the cherished campus pub.

Just as with the old Bomber, there will be both a main bar featuring 12 beer taps and a satellite bar featuring 4. With the renovations, however, the main bar has greatly grown in size and is now located along the back wall. This new bar will also feature a window to the patio so customers don’t even have to go inside to order another round.

The Bomber kitchen also received major renovations as Butalid claimed that “the bulk of the $675,000 went into the kitchen.” Marian Gadd, kitchen manager at Bomber, explained how the old Bomber kitchen was rather inefficient as it was originally built to serve the breakfast eatery Ground Zero, which used to occupy the space where the Student Life Centre (SLC) Tim Hortons now resides. “Previously we had to build our menus around our kitchen set-up and what it could handle,” Gadd explained.

Bomber has also hired a new, full-time professional line cook which will mean “more firepower and consistency,” according to Gadd. The number of kitchen staff on duty at all times will also be at least doubled from the former amount. “Our biggest key with the renovations was [to increase] the speed of service from the back of the house to the front of the house.”

Now armed with a better-equipped and more capable kitchen, the Bomber will also feature a new, six-page menu, tripling in size from its former two pages. The focus of the changes is on adding more entrées and introducing breakfast items and desserts. According to Gadd, however, the “new menu is conservative [compared to] where the Bomber is going.”

Many of the changes to the Bomber menu were inspired by suggestions from the Feds’ online survey which requested input from the students regarding what they wanted to eat at their campus pub. From the over 300 surveys that were filled out, the need for desserts was one of the most clear requests from UW students.

Along with traditional after-dinner options such as sundaes and dessert waffles, Bomber’s feature dessert will be the Xango ($5.75): a deep-fried cheesecake wrapped in a tortilla wrap and covered in your choice of chocolate, raspberry or caramel sauce plus whipped cream.