On Tuesday, freshman Krystal Bleiler found a full-size cockroach floating in the Broccoli Cheddar soup she purchased from Einstein Brothers Bagels in the Spartan Club.
Bleiler and Kreider were grabbing lunch, as they routinely do every Tuesday from Einsteins, just before 1 p.m.
“She yelled, ‘There’s a cockroach in my soup!’” said Bleiler’s roommate, Camille Kreider, who witnessed the incident.
“I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘There’s a cockroach in my soup!’”
When they got to their room in the Vaughn Center, Kreider said Bleiler immediately opened her closed container of broccoli cheddar soup and began eating it.
“She was actually eating the soup,” said Kreider. “I guess she took a scoop of it and saw it floating.”
“I was a quarter of the way finished with my soup and I kept seeing this ugly piece of broccoli. I thought it was burnt,” said Bleiler.
“I was scooping it trying to get rid of it, I had it in my spoon and I realized it was a…cockroach with all six legs intact.”
In shock, Bleiler dropped the spoon and the bowl. “It was really gross,” she said.
After discovering the roach, Kreider insisted they go back to Einsteins so Bleiler could get her money back.
Although Einsteins sported a long line of people, they managed to flag down an employee.
Kreider said the Einstein employee, Danielle Alvaro, offered Bleiler a bagel or other substitute for her meal, but Bleiler refused and requested only her money back.
Kreider said Alvaro threw the soup away and then called over her supervisor, Elisamuel ‘Sammy’ Rodriguez, to give Bleiler a refund.
“It took them like twenty minutes to come and give me a refund,” Bleiler said.
“Even if they were busy, they should have done something. I mean, if I were them I would have [thrown] out the soup right away and told everyone to get away.”
Kreider and Bleiler said they did not think the batch of soup was changed.
“I didn’t see them do anything but serve more soup,” said Bleiler.
When contacted by The Minaret hours after the incident, Amy Truong, dining services general manager, said she was unaware of the incident and was very concerned about why she had not been notified.
According to protocol, before Alvaro threw out the soup, she should have shown the food to the manager.
Rodriguez said he never saw the roach.
“I just gave her her money back,” he said. Alvaro “told me there was [a cockroach]. I didn’t actually get to see the soup.”
According to Truong, “In the past, when anybody complains about anything the employees save the container and show it to the manager.
“Anytime they say whatever it is—hair or whatever—we switch out the pans right away or we throw out the food right away.
“Before we switch out the pan we want to see what it is, so we know how to handle it.
“That’s why I am a little concerned about why Danielle didn’t show me the soup.”
Truong said that in her seven years as general manager for UT dining services she has never experienced a situation like this.
She stated that pest control comes twice a week and they have never failed an inspection or had any health code violations.
“All our health codes are very good,” stated Truong. “From the state and the county.”
Truong said students should inform her if anything should ever happen like this. “We do care,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bleiler and Kreider agree that it will be a long time, if ever, before they eat at Einsteins again.
“I’m thinking I’m going to go on a bagel and soup free diet,” Bleiler said.
Alyssa Major can be reached at amhoward@spartans.ut.edu.
That’s nothing. A couple of years ago I found out that the lady running the vegetarian stand had once worked at the Grille and handled meat. I couldn’t eat for 3 months.
It is funny how the manager says she has never had an incidence like this. That is an absolute lie.
In addition to the other comment above about the experience they reported, I also had an experience in the cafeteria where I had to report a cockroach in my salad. I have also seen a cockroach in the salad bar before, which although is common for cockroaches do be around lettuce in the food industry, it is absolutely unacceptable.
I have also seen a cockroach on the table of the A1 and mustard table that usually resides to the left of the omelette bar. I have reported each and every one of those incidences to a staff member on duty. Therefore, either the manager is hearing about these cases and not doing anything or the staff is not notifying her when the do occur.
Unfortunately it is a sad situation.
I think students should do more about it. This is a serious health hazard and who knows what else is going into our food that we have no idea about. Getting you money back after finding a cockroach in your soup isn’t any justice to how disgusting this incident is.
this is nothing compared to what i found in my meat lasagna last year in the cafe. in the middle of the pasta layer was a decapitated mouse.. i caused a scene and the manager of the cafe quickly gave my money back. this schools food and employees are a disgrace
This is disgusting. Its a common complaint that UTs food is bad, but this is unacceptable. I have found hair in the cream cheese of my bagel from them, but this makes me want to avoid einsteins at all cost.