These three categories have remained stable for the last few years, Anthony Sarkis says, and customers have come to depend on them.

"Ninety percent of our regular customers have the same thing every day," he says.

And they can look forward to continuing the habit well into the future, Anthony Sarkis says.

"Every couple of years we add an item or two, but we keep it simple," he says.

"Customers don't like too much stuff," he explains. "They have half an hour for lunch, and they don't want to look at a big menu."

In addition to serving customers in the store, C'est Bon also offers catering services, with a variety of platters available for next-day delivery.

The fact that the store is local, instead of a large national chain, has helped its catering business grow, employees say.

All of the baked goods are made from scratch at the company bakery in Union Square, and the chicken is roasted in the store.

"There are too many caterers around," Anthony Sarkis says. "They prefer somebody local."

And Nehme says the stores' proximity to one another is an asset in that it allows employees at one store to request help-in the form of food or labor-in short order.

The Real Crimson Catering?

It is this focus on the small that has brought about the store's evolution into a central element of campus life.

To George Sarkis, Harvard's choice to include C'est Bon in its classroom buildings was a logical one.

"At the time they just wanted someone to serve coffee in the building, with light food. That's basically what we do," Sarkis says of the Barker placement.

But the University's experience with C'est Bon's catering services didn't hurt.