Cook cafe to close on weekends, Rutgers announces

The Cook Cafe will be closed on weekends this year due to declining sales over weekends, as operating expenses exceeded sales, said Nicholas Emanuel, the director of operations for Rutgers Dining Services.

Rutgers Dining Services, which operates on low-profit margins, noticed low turnout at Cook Cafe on weekends that was treading toward the red. Usually garnering 1,000 swipes a day, the cafe averaged 400 a day on weekends, Emanuel said. The 60% reduction in sales was financially unfeasible, since the services get a 10% profit at best, Emanuel said.

The weekend decrease in sales is not exclusive to Cook Cafe. Emanuel said that dining halls also see a 50% decrease in swipes on weekends as opposed to weekdays, another reason why the cafe had to reduce hours because of its close proximity to Neilson Dining Hall.

“To have both operating at the same time doesn't make sense,” Emanuel said. “People leave and go home. It’s hard to do business so we consolidate to be sustainable.”

And, no students would lose their jobs or receive shorter hours despite the loss in work hours. Since Rutgers Dining Services is already so large, locations are always looking to absorb more workers, Emanuel said.

“We serve 30 to 35,000 meals a day,” he said. “Think about how many employees we need. That's for all operations. We have a large need for labor.”

Some workers agreed that the reduction in work hours was marginal.

“It would be better if it were open on the weekends, but there’s a lot of opportunities to work here,” said Saba Ghosh, an employee at Cook Cafe. “It’s ok that it’s not open for two days.”

Joe Charette, executive director of Rutgers Dining Services, also said that closures would not be a drastic change for students. Charette said that Cook Cafe was primarily for students living in the Newell Apartments and did not receive as much usage from the Rutgers community as a whole.

“Having to walk an extra 100 yards and getting all-you-can-eat (at Neilson Dining Hall) is not a huge sacrifice,” Charette said. “We think students can adjust to that very easily and we'll be spending their money a lot more efficiently.”

Despite Cook Cafe closing, Emanuel promised that there were no other foreseeable closures at other on-campus dining areas. Douglass Cafe, for instance, was at no risk of reduced hours or shutting down because of its remote location on Douglass campus.

Still, some students say they will miss Cook Cafe on the weekends. 

“It’s just a convenient place to get food,” said Sarah Millstein, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore. “The dining hall that has the same food everyday. The cafe has a different energy.”

She also talked about a potential loss for campus events. Just this past Wednesday, Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA) rescheduled its Party at the Puddle at Cook Cafe, where they gave away t-shirts and had a live DJ.

“You can hold events here,” Millstein said. “The weekends is usually the best place to have that.”