By Teddy Geigle
The Scene staff
Forest Park is permanently closing its cafeteria for the first time since it opened in the 1960s.
St. Louis Community College decided this summer to close cafeterias on all of its campuses, following more than a year of temporarily suspended operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Forest Park President Julie Fickas noted that the college doesn’t have students living in dorms like four-year universities. That results in low traffic at times, particularly in the past year.
It’s been challenging for STLCC to find private vendors to operate its cafeterias, according to Fickas.
“We’re moving to a different model for food,” she said.
The former cafeteria space still has tables and chairs for studying, socializing or eating packed lunches. But the campus bookstore has moved into the area that used to house the kitchen, drink machines and buffets for hot breakfasts, pizza, entrees and sandwiches.
Administrators say the bookstore will begin selling more food items, in addition to the ramen noodles, tuna packets, candy, Lunchables and cold sandwiches that it currently offers.
Future choices could include pizza, burgers, soup and other hot items, according to Rodney Jones, STLCC auxiliary manager.
“This definitely won’t be super soon,” he said. “Closer to later this year, we will be expanding the selection available to students.”
Kaldi’s coffee coming
Kaldi’s coffee machines are coming to the bookstore and the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences in October, Fickas announced in a recent employee newsletter.
The machines will offer preset coffee drinks with beans ground on site and fresh milk instead of powdered creamer, according to Jones.
“It is actually really high-quality coffee,” he said.
Vending machines on campus will continue to sell soda, chips, candy bars and other snacks, but many have been half empty since the college gradually reopened after a COVID-19 shutdown in the spring and summer of 2020.
Before the shutdown, the cafeteria had been operated by a series of private vendors.
Its permanent closing is a disappointment for Lahaji Thomas, a staff member in the TRiO program.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “… I have to go outside now to get something. I would get breakfast and lunch there most days.”
Some are unaware
General studies student Logan Hentschel isn’t really bothered by the fact that there’s no cafeteria on campus.
Hentschel is attending Forest Park for the first time this semester, like many other students who don’t realize anything has changed.
“I usually just bring a lunch,” Hentschel said. “I didn’t know (the new bookstore space) was the bookstore. I thought all of this was the cafeteria.”
The former cafeteria space wasn’t renovated before the bookstore moved in this semester. Customers can still see the grill, oven, buffets with sneeze guards and water lines for coffee machines.
Counters and shelves are lined with merchandise, everything from notebooks and nursing supplies to insulated mugs, stuffed animals, STLCC hoodies and other clothing.
Some students, faculty and staff complain that food prices are too high in the book store. Others consider them fair under the circumstances.
“They have to make a profit somehow,” said student Tyra Kelly.
Prices at QT level
Jones, the auxiliary manager, said the bookstore can’t afford to sell food items at grocery-store prices, but he hopes to keep them “under or around stores like QT” because of tight student budgets.
The COVID pandemic hit in mid-March of 2020. Schools, offices, retail stores and other businesses closed all over the country. STLCC moved its classes online.
A limited number of students and employees returned in the fall, while others continued with remote learning. Since that time, the number of in-person classes has gradually increased.
With cafeteria operations temporarily suspended, people began to pack their own lunches or rely on the soda, chips and candy in vending machines for meals.
Bookstore sales have dropped since pre-COVID days, according to Jones.
He plans to begin offering more high-protein and energy bars and gluten-free products, in addition to hot food.
“Wildwood is our go-to example,” he said, referring to STLCC’s campus in Wildwood.