As students head home for the holidays, they leave behind their weekend tradition of going out with their friends.
At the University of Toledo, or UT, a frequent hangout for college students is the locally-owned bar Jake's Saloon, or Jake's, located at 2520 Dorr St., featuring Home Slice Pizza.
Jake's has been open since 2001 and Home Slice Pizza, a local pizza place in downtown Toledo, was added to their menu this past fall. Jake's host events throughout the week like Wednesday Karaoke Night and "Opinionation" Game Night, a "Family Feud" style game. There are also pool tables and dart boards at the bar.
Jake's is open Monday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Sundays. After 10 p.m., the bar becomes a 21-and-older bar, but anyone can order food from the kitchen for carryout or through apps like Doordash and Grubhub.
Since the bar started serving pizza this fall, business has increased.
"Food has helped our sales in general, and it also has turned the look of the bar to be more of a friendly atmosphere," said Jack Crowell, a bartender at Jake's. "Now people aren't just coming in to drink, they're coming in to get a good piece of pizza."
Introducing food on the menu also expanded the clientele. Now that Jake's is no longer just a bar, more local families will come in for dinner.
For UT students, the last day of Fall Semester final exams was Dec. 16. As students went home to their families, they stopped going out with their friends as often, so sales at Jake's decreased.
"I noticed it when there were no more college kids coming in," Crowell said. "It was literally like,they all went home, and then the next day I worked it was just like 14 people."
Fortunately, UT is a large commuter school, so some students are still coming in. Jake's also has a few regulars that are continuing to come in during the holidays.
Between returning customers and consistent carryout orders, there has not been a problematic decrease in sales.
"The sales declined a little bit but not drastically like expected because a lot of students are still local, still around here," Miles Price, the kitchen manager at Jake's, said.
kp240121@ohio.edu
