The cafe cart at the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts closed after seven months due to low usage. The future use of the space is currently unclear.
The Granoff cafe cart — similar to those in the Sciences and Rockefeller libraries — was originally intended to serve Asian food, such as sushi, seaweed salad, spring rolls and soybeans, according to Clay Thibodeaux '12, a former student supervisor at the cafe.
It opened in April 2011 and closed right before Thanksgiving break.
"The workers there would report two to three customers per shift," Thibodeaux said. He said he thinks the location was inconvenient and that the cafe might have gotten more use in "an established place where people would go regularly."
Dining Services evaluated the cafe's usage and "it became clear that it was slower than originally anticipated," wrote Ann Hoffman, director of administration for Brown Dining Services, in an email to The Herald.
"At the time we closed the cafe, Dining Services was discussing several alternative options for that space," she wrote.
"Vending was considered a temporary solution until we had time to fully evaluate all the options," Hoffman wrote. But "vending has been well-received so it will stay in place until something better comes along."
Many students report not knowing the cafe existed. Mary Tarantino '15 said even if she had known about the cafe, she probably would not have gone because she "would have no reason to be there."
Dining Services is currently considering the possibility of reopening the cafe and discussing ways to increase its visibility, said Connie Wu '12.5, the current BuDS unit manager for cafe carts.
"At present, we have no plans to bring back the cafe," wrote Chira DelSesto, assistant director of the Creative Arts Council, in an email to The Herald. "I know that Dining Services is thinking about a possible proposal for some sort of food service on Level 1 of the Center, but at this point, we have not seen a proposal."
The former cafe space is currently being used to display some final projects from last semester's HIAA 0850: "Modern Architecture" course.
