Ample options for snacking, as One World Café prepares to open

When food service begins later this month at One World Café, diners will also be introduced to an array of savory new snacks:

• Pocky Chocolate covered stick biscuits and Kasugai Frutia Gummies from Japan.
• Chatak Masala and Tangy Tomato chips from India.
• Loux Lemon Juice Drink from Greece.

“A good portion of the front end of the One World Cafe has been set for retail product and grab-and-go selections, says Neal Plazio, UB’s executive chef. “The intent has always been to offer as much variety of product and service.”

One World Café will have a “soft-opening” on March 23, 24 and 25 in preparation for food service to begin officially at two of the five food stations when students return from spring break on Monday, March 28.

Campus Dining & Shops has been on the hunt for international snacks to sell alongside its international menu at One World and worked with some U.S. vendors that distribute international products, Plazio says. To gauge student interest at UB, it began testing some of the snacks — they were a hit.

The response was so positive, in fact, that Campus Dining & Shops started selling some of the snacks last semester at The Elli, the convenience store in the Ellicott Food Court.

“The feedback we got from students at The Elli was that students who knew the items bought them but then shared with their friends — and new customers were being introduced,” Plazio says.

Some of the international products headed for the shelves at One World will include exotic canned goods, candies, flavored sandwich cookies and tangy chips, such as Lay’s Limon Chili and Uncle Chips Spicy, Plazio says.

There will be a variety of drinks, like Grape Sangaria Ramune and Apple Sparking Water from Japan. Campus Dining & Shops is still trying to source Osem products from Israel, including Bissli, a barbecue-flavored wheat twist, and Bamba, a peanut butter-flavored puff.

Prices will range from $1.50 to $5.50 for the larger packs of cookies and canned goods, Plazio says. The hard part will be keeping certain items stocked while there’s still ongoing issues with the supply chain, he says.

“Along with retail product, there will be grab-and-go offerings, especially desserts,” Plazio says. “Since this is a growing segment, it will expand as we go along.”

Due to a national labor shortage, the café will open with two of the five food stations — “Kali Orexi,” which will serve foods from Middle Eastern countries, Turkey and Greece, and “Tikka Table,” offering fare from the different regions of India.

The three other food stations — “The 1864 Grill,” “Pan Asian” and “The Noodle Pavilion” — will be phased in, probably by the fall.

A formal opening ceremony for One World Café will take place on March 31.