Cuisine chronicles: What’s NOT YET on campus.

If you are a Seattle Central student, I’m quite sure you know what I’m referring to just by the picture. For those who do not, I am speaking about the infamous Atrium cafeteria that has been shut down ever since you laid eyes upon it. I know everyone has had numerous questions about it, and I have had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Johnny C Woods, who could answer my questions and hopefully yours.

Dr. Woods is the head of campus operations. He is responsible for the campus services that aren’t directly linked to the student population, such as Campus Security, the development of facilities on campus, the cleaning team, the engineering team, the business office, the budget office, Auxiliary Services, and food services. So, undoubtedly, he was the right person to ask what exactly was going on with the cafeteria in the atrium.

Pre-Covid, The Grill “was the fully functional cafeteria on campus; it was the ideal cafeteria,” stated Dr. Woods. However, post-Covid, food services have become a major challenge. 

Seattle Central is located in an area that has a variety of food options the second one steps out of campus. The goal that Dr. Woods and his team have is to develop a model to ensure Seattle Central is self-sufficient when it comes to auxiliary services. Hence, numerous observations of the student population on campus are made in order to help make a decision about the cafeteria. 

Reopening the cafeteria is such a difficult question because, before the pandemic, it operated at a deficit and was facing more losses than profits. Now, with various options for off-campus classes, such as online classes, e-learning, and self-paced classes, the student population on campus has reduced significantly. 

Let’s address the rumors about the Seattle Central Bookstore moving to the cafeteria area in the atrium. Dr. Woods states that there was a conversation with his team about the bookstore switching places with the M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery, not the cafeteria, so that the gallery would be more accessible to the public, and the bookstore would be inside the Broadway Edison building.

However, the swap didn’t make sense, as now there are a lot of online resources available, and students tend to opt for online options.

Last quarter, third-party food trucks were invited to Central’s campus in order to help decide whether reopening the cafeteria is a good idea by gauging the approximate expected sales.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much traction, and often, the college had to pay a lump sum to the food truck owners to make up for the sales difference. 

Students and faculty may have noticed that The Buzz café now has a greater variety of foods and drinks. The reason for that, other than offering better options to our student body, came from Dr. Woods’ team analyzing on-campus food demand. The culinary department, along with a third-party team, provides food to The Buzz after the sales and the client base increased. The plan is to turn The Buzz into a pastry and coffee shop only, with larger third-party food options, and then move to the Atrium cafeteria. Dr. Woods couldn’t provide an exact date for the change but assured us that the developments on campus have the student and faculty body’s best interest in mind.

Even though the opening of the cafeteria is far down the line, Dr. Woods and his team are working actively on this, along with another team inspecting the cafeteria equipment to be well-prepared for reopening The Grill. Meanwhile, other development projects on campus include infrastructure at the Mitchell Activity Center, digital kiosks around campus, and a student academic center on the third floor. But that’s a topic for another day, so stay tuned for upcoming articles on campus development and ‘stay in school’ to check them out.