Representatives from Dining Services and the Faculty Senate met Nov. 18 to discuss the state of the Garden Room dining facility, which opened last fall to help foster the Faculty Senate "intellectual community" initiative.
Robert Grainger, Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee chair, said the meeting's participants focused on thinking of new ways to revitalize the Garden Room rather than whether to close it.
"The meeting wasn't to decide the ultimate fate of the Garden Room - it was more of a serious look at how we stand," Grainger said.
Dining Services Director Edward Gutauskas said he discussed "what might be done differently to reduce costs."
"The Faculty Senate [has] a real interest in it staying open," Gutauskas said.
Faculty Senate Chairman David T. Gies said Dining Services and faculty opinion differs about why the Garden Room is not profitable.
"They think it's failing because the faculty won't come - we think the food and service could be better," Gies said. "If they build a place that is good quality, relatively speedy and reasonably priced, people will come."
Gutauskas said some of the options discussed at the meeting that might bring down costs included serving a buffet and reducing the number of days the Garden Room is open - from being open five days a week to possibly three or four days a week.
Gutauskas said the average number of people who eat lunch at the Garden Room each weekday is about 30 to 40 people and "there need to be twice that many - in the 70s."
Richard Kovatch, assistant vice president for business operations, said another possible way to reduce costs would be to reduce the number of staff who work at the Garden Room.
Kovatch said some possible reasons why the Garden Room is not meeting expectations include that "it is still relatively new" and not enough faculty, staff and students know about it.
Gies said he thinks Dining Services has the potential to bring more business to the Garden Room.
"They do well everywhere else - the students are generally happy [at the dining halls] and when they do dinners at the Rotunda, they are good," he said. "They either don't want to do it or don't know how."
Assistant Environmental Science Prof. John Albertson said he ate at the Garden Room recently and he did not enjoy the experience.
"It seemed a bit contrived," Albertson said. "The food was okay, and the service was slow."
English Prof. Katharine Maus said the idea of a faculty dining area that is "elegant" is good, but "I'm not sure if it will be profitable or if we can even expect it to be."
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