Cafe to get new look

Feb. 10, 2005
By Christine Mastalio
Features Editor

Long lines at the door, confusion in the serving area and congestion at the salad bar are all part of an encounter with the Cosgrove cafeteria.  But that is all about to change.

Over the summer, the cafeteria is scheduled to undergo a $1 million renovation. The project will be paid for through a bond fund.

When students return to school in the fall, there will be two check-in tables. The plan is to locate one entrance near the current entrance and the other at the current faculty dining room entrance.

“Students should be able to get in and out in seven minutes,” residential dining manager Mike Roederer said. “That is our target time.”

The cafeteria will take up part of the lobby outside with expanded seating, and the new faculty and staff space will be where the conference room currently is.

The biggest change, though, will be the establishment of nine stations where different types of food are served, Roederer said.

“Right now there are three main stations and you’re all kind of right there,” he said. “The major thing to do is stop so many lines.”

The exact type of food that will be offered at the stations has not been decided yet, but the new cafeteria will include a brick pizza oven and pizza will be served everyday.

The walls containing the beverage dispensers will be knocked out, and two double-sided beverage stations will be moved about ten feet from the current location. A carousel dish-rack system will replace the conveyor belt. Students will slide their trays into metal racks moving along the wall.

The carousel will be quieter and cleaner than the dish belt, Roederer said.

The general manager of Sodexho food services at St. Ambrose, Al Hayes, toured other campuses to get an idea of what the new cafeteria would contain. Blueprints for the cafeteria were shown to members of Student Government Association and the food committee at a Jan. 12 meeting.

“According to the original plans drawn up, it took out part of the Cosgrove lounge for a faculty dining room,” president of SGA Ben Kiel said.

Kiel said he voiced concerns that this would limit access to the stairwell leading to the upper floors of Cosgrove from the first floor.

Other changes include redoing the floor to get rid of the pink tile and ordering smaller chairs so more people can fit at a table, Roederer said.

Two designers worked on the project; Greg Gowey, who works for the firm that designed the Rogalski center and the new residence halls on campus, and Kent Rattan, an architect for Sodexho Food Services from Maryland.

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