Baker University Center's dining operations will not be profitable until at least 2009; that is a fact. But let us hit you with another fact: This is Ohio University's fault.
Now we have a store, Bobcat Essentials, that is losing money. We have a fancy restaurant where many students don't feel they can afford to eat. We have an overpriced food court that cannot make money.
We understand that many businesses, especially restaurants, do not turn profits so early in their runs ' perhaps three to five years. But Baker is not a mom-and-pop restaurant starting on Court Street. Baker Center is not an isolated place, but part of a larger university machine. The university has Dining Services. It should know by now how to promote large eating areas and lure students with promises of mediocre food.
Harping on Dining Dollars is easy. It was a terrible program ' the effects of which are still being felt. OU officials say they cannot know whether or not Baker Center will be profitable until it has a year without Dining Dollars. But they make no guarantees. And even though we are not fortune-tellers, we can prognosticate that Baker Center will not be profitable until the university learns to promote and learns to adapt.
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