Greenhouse to End Pizza Delivery Service

After being introduced earlier this year, Harvard Dining Services (HDS) has decided to cease delivering pizzas from its outlet in the Greenhouse.

According to Alexandra E. McNitt, assistant director of marketing and communications for HDS, the business never generated enough sales to make it economically viable.

"The volume is not sufficient to maintain the program and to allow us to provide the quality and the speed of service [we wanted]," McNitt said. "There just isn't a large enough business."

McNitt said it was not a lack of marketing effort that caused the program to fail.

" It just never took off really. We did several promotions--through The Crimson, direct mails to students, table tents in the dining halls and so forth," she said.

The decision to scrap the program was made before spring break--before the emergency closure of Oxford Street, which hampered delivery service.

The Greenhouse was averaging around 15 pizzas per night--about half what was needed to sustain the program. Most of those orders were for delivery between 9 and 10 p.m., leaving the employees underutilized during later service hours. Delivery had been available until 1 a.m.

McNitt said the Greenhouse will remain open on Monday through Thursday nights until midnight. She said she believes "there did seem to be some demand, [but] not a huge demand, for walk-up business" during the night hours.

Although the program was not successful, McNitt said HDS will seek to offer other options for students in the future.

"I think we're disappointed. We had hoped that this would at least be one option to satisfy students' requests for late night meal options. I think we gave it a good enough run to know for sure that it wasn't going to happen," she said.