Sophomore John Hough remembers a time when The Huddle always sold hot dogs for a quarter after midnight. Those times are over, but this week, thanks to the Student Union Board, he can relive them.
At the beginning of this school year, The Huddle raised the price of these midnight hot dogs, nicknamed "quarter dogs," from 25 cents to 33 cents.
"There was a lot of drama about it [the price change], and it was something students seemed to care about," junior Kevin DeLaMontaigne said.
Student Union Board (SUB) services programmers DeLaMontaigne and sophomore Jenny Yi arranged to subsidize hot dog prices from Sunday through Thursday and provide students such as Hough an opportunity to pay only one quarter for "quarter dogs" during midterms week.
Yi said it was relatively easy to provide this service; it required approval from Huddle Management and a commitment on the part of SUB to pay the difference in price for all hot dogs sold.
"We figured there'd be lots of students in LaFortune this week, and this would brighten up their days and give them something to look forward to," Yi said.
DeLaMontaigne said he hoped that by specifically choosing a week when many students have midterm exams, the low-priced hot dogs might serve as a "stress reliever."
Both Yi and DeLaMontaigne were optimistic about the week-long event, and hope to repeat it sometime in the future. When and if this would occur depends in large part on student response.
"If people are into it and if the number of hot dogs sold goes up, then it shows people like it," DeLaMontaigne said.
Hough is supportive of the subsidy and was disappointed when the price was raised, he said. He purchased the hot dogs approximately twice per week last year, but Sunday was his first time back after the price increase. Another student taking advantage of the reduced price, sophomore Jessie Bretl, echoed Hough's sentiments.
"A quarter is easy, but who has 33 cents in their pocket?" said Bretl.
Adam Hill, The Huddle manager on duty Sunday night, said the price decrease did not seem to yield a greater number of hot dog purchases Sunday night.
"The volume is about the same as any other night. There doesn't seem to be a real difference," Hill said.
