Coffee Hut warming up to students

Feb. 10, 2005
By Christine Mastalio
Features Editor

The cafeteria started off the spring semester with a slightly different look.  The salad and sandwich bars were pushed up against the Just in Time station, tables were rearranged, the trays were on a different wall, and a new coffee section was added.

The process all started when the staff was waxing the floors over Christmas break. Residential dining manager Mike Roederer was thinking about the curtained-off storage space in the northeast corner of the cafeteria.

“I thought it would be better to utilize the space for seating,” he said. “Things just took off from there.”

Now the former storage area is host to the St. Ambrose Coffee Hut.  Fives tables are huddled against the backdrop of spray painted, fake brick walls. An assortment of coffee syrups, flavored teas, newspapers, magazines and decorative coffee mugs are available to students who swipe their ID card at the door.

“I go to a lot of coffee shops.  I like to be able to sit quietly and read a newspaper or do some homework with nice real mugs,” Roederer said. “I know it’s not going to be completely quiet, but usually even the kids who go in there keep it more quiet.”

In fliers put out at the beginning of the semester, Sodexho said they would even tag and wash students’ personal coffee mugs to keep in the niche.

At first there was confusion about who was allowed to sit there, but it is for the students, and now several students come in every day, Roederer said.

The trays and silverware moving from their home of several years also caused some student confusion.

Roederer said he enjoys telling students they moved the trays to laugh at them.

The real reason for the move, however, was that the area around the ice-cream machine was too congested.

“It really does help promote the flow,” Roederer said.

Another change is a mini-convenience store, now in operation by the entrance to the cafeteria. Students can purchase two-liter bottles of pop, individual cans of pop, chips and breakfast pastry items with the money on their Buzz cards (student IDs).

Roederer said the cafeteria also made some changes in the traditional menu offered.

“We tried to go with a healthier menu,” he said. “We are labeling more of our foods. A lot of foods we had were healthy but we weren’t labeling them, even on the menus.”

Roederer said if there is negative student reaction to the new menu choices, other options will be explored.

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