Students should expect a departure from Corp coffee shops’ standard fare of coffee and bagels with the opening of a new cafe in the Davis Center for the Performing Arts. According to Joel Johnson (MSB `10), Director of the new cafe, there are high hopes that the establishment will open in November 2009 as originally planned. However, it’s possible that the project will stretch into the next semester.
“The service will provide something different than all other Corp services,” Johnson said. “We’re looking into frozen yogurt and fresh-made fruit smoothies in addition to having soups, salads, sandwiches, and wraps, but we haven’t made any concrete decisions.”
Few details about the cafe have been set in stone because the Corp is waiting for University approval, according to Omar Noureldin (SFS `10), Chair of the Board of Directors at the Corp.
One thing everyone is sure about is that there will be more to the new cafe than just food. The restaurant’s atmosphere will be heavily infused with the arts, fitting in with the ambience of its DPAC location.
The Corp has always had the idea to build a cafe in the Davis Center, to turn the performance center into “a cultural hub on campus … but things didn’t turn out that way,” Noureldin said, adding that “there wasn’t anything besides performance spaces and classrooms to attract people to come.”
The Corp hopes to attract students through the brand recognition it has on campus along with lots of arts-related programming: previews of theater and dance shows throughout the year, and possibly a place where students’ visual artwork can be displayed, as well as other events like open mic nights. According to Noureldin, there will also be a director of programming who will focus solely on arts events in the cafe.
