The University Centers Advisory Board Food Committee decided on Feb. 14 to recommend that a vendor providing a “”healthy, low-cost dining alternative,”” such as the Food Co-op, be granted operating space in the Price Center Gameroom.
Guardian
The recommendation would effectively deter the A.S. Council’s efforts to open an Associated Students-sponsored ice cream parlor in the same space.
The food committee’s recommendation does not specifically endorse the Food Co-op’s proposal to open a satellite site, but does suggest that proposals from other student parties should be welcomed, provided they intend to sell health food.
“”We are looking to provide students with a ‘grab-and-go’ healthy food choice,”” said UCAB Vice Chair Justin Williams, who heads the food committee.
The Food Co-op, which has operated out of its current Student Center location for 25 years, based its claim on expanding its services to the Price Center on results of the University Centers Expansion Feasibility Study, in which a large number of the 3,500 respondents said they would like to see more healthy food choices available on campus.
“”We are very happy with the food committee’s decision,”” said Food Co-op core member Jenny Cohen. “”Establishing a satellite site in the Price Center will allow us to serve nutritional food in a more accessible area while also educating the campus about the cooperative movement.””
A tentative menu for food items that will be offered at the Food Co-op’s branch was distributed at the Feb. 14 meeting. The menu is set to include breakfast items, such as bagels, muffins and yogurt, and lunch items, such as hot soups, sandwiches, salads and possibly burritos.
Food Co-op employees in attendance said that all food preparation for the food sold at the Price Center branch will take place at the Student Center location’s kitchen and will be transported daily for sale.
Cohen discussed the possibility of hiring between five and 10 new employees if the co-op is granted the gameroom space. Cohen said the North American Students of Cooperation might help pay for build-up costs for the new site, which would include plumbing and refrigeration work.
The committee’s recommendation came after several members of the A.S. Council presented the case for opening an A.S. ice cream enterprise in the gameroom space. A.S. Commissioner of Services and Enterprises Jeremy Gallagher, Revelle College Freshman Senator Max Harrington and John Muir College Sophomore Senator Jeremy Cogan presented their proposal of serving Freshens Ice Cream in the contested space, which is currently served at Sierra Summit, but encompassing a “”Triton theme”” in the store’s presentation.
Gallagher, who also serves as the A.S. Council representative to UCAB, argued that the ice cream parlor concept would improve the social atmosphere on campus.
“”We believe that an ice cream parlor would be ideal to campus life because it would be a fun place students could go after events,”” Gallagher said.
Gallagher also contends that allocating the game room space to the Food Co-op would be impractical because it is a “”duplication of services already offered”” during a time of overcrowding on campus, and that the ice cream parlor would serve as an enterprise that could generate funds that could be used for student activities.
UCAB at-large member Aditya Bansod said that an ice cream vendor was not a practical use for the space, since the Sunshine store and Wendy’s already offer ice cream products in the same vicinity.
Williams also felt that ice cream was too much of a seasonal dish to warrant providing it year-round in the Price Center.
The food committee will present its recommendation at the next UCAB general meeting on Feb. 24.
