The Food Court and Susquehanna Room will be closed for renovations for the entirety of the 2012-13 academic year, and University administrators, as well as Sodexo officials and employees, are still unsure how they will make up for the loss of the campus’ central hub.
The two facilities host an estimated 18,000 sales a week, from individual cups of coffee to full dinners, according to Robert Griffin, Sodexo district marketing manager.
A Sodexo employee, who was granted anonymity because Sodexo management bars workers from speaking to the press, said that on an average weekday shift, one cashier processes between 1,700 and 2,000 purchases, at an average of $8 to $10 a purchase.
The employee told Pipe Dream that she was concerned that students would be left without a place to eat on campus.
“What’s going to happen to these students?” the employee asked. “How much are they going to have to dish out to eat?”
Frank Torres, director of Rainbow Pride Union and a senior double-majoring in financial economics and political science, told Pipe Dream he believed the closings will make finding places to meet on campus more difficult.
“I think there’s going to be a severe lack of options for off-campus students and just a lack of space to congregate,” Torres said.
Other students were similarly worried about the renovations’ effect on campus life.
Henry Dinhofer, president of Newing College’s Broome Hall and an undeclared sophomore, said the closing of the Food Court and Susquehanna Room was “a shame.”
“There are a lot of student groups in this building who always meet here,” Dinhofer said.
The renovations to the Food Court and Susquehanna Room, which will connect and expand the two dining facilities, will begin in June and are slated for completion by the start of the fall 2013 semester.
About 5,500 square feet of space will be added to create a market-style dining area, extending outwards toward the Peace Quad, according to Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities. The renovations will cost about $8 million and are being partially paid for by Sodexo.
Fennie said Physical Facilities is finalizing architectural plans and currently bidding out the project.
“Those familiar with the [New University] Union and Susquehanna Room will find it hard to adjust,” Griffin said. “It’s going to be something we have to be patient with. Any time you go through a project like this, it’s a challenge for anybody and we’re going to do the best we can to take care of every student and faculty member on campus.”
Griffin said there will be additional dining venues while the New Union is under construction, although the University does not know where or how many. The Chenango Room, which is currently closed for renovations, and Einstein Bros Bagels will open in August as retail dining facilities.
“That’s been a topic of conversation for several months, they are still working on that, I know that we are probably nearing the end of that discussion phase, but I do not know specific locations … That is not entirely up to us,” Griffin said.
University spokeswoman Gail Glover told Pipe Dream that plans for additional retail options are being finalized and that details will be released soon.
Food Court and Susquehanna employees are worried about where they will land once construction begins.
“They haven’t told us a thing,” a Sodexo employee said.
There are about 60 full-time employees working in the two dining facilities slated to close, according to the employee, who estimated that the Chenango Room and the Einstein Bros will provide about 30 jobs once they open.
“They are not telling us ‘we’re gonna have a job for you,’” the employee said.
Full-time Sodexo workers are members of the Rochester Regional Workers United Union, and will retain their health benefits if they are laid off, but the employee said there are widespread worries that layoffs will result in unsure employment.
“What happens now is, we’ll get laid off, they can call us in at any time, at six in the morning,” the employee said. “We’re full-time workers from nine to five, [and now] they are telling us we’re going to come in whenever we can, work eight hours here, four hours there, come in the morning, come in at night.”
The Sodexo worker also told Pipe Dream that her colleagues fear for their future.
“Every day they are living in fear of losing their job. This is all they’ve known, especially people with a handicap,” the employee said. “They can’t fight.”
— Daniel S. Weintraub contributed reporting.