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Catering to new needs at the Joe

by Abby Rapoport

Ramiro Carrillo '07 works for the part of Dining Services that most students never see.

While most Dining Services employees are working at Quad, Cowles or the Forum, Carrillo heads to Grinnell House at 1011 Park St. There he serves up catered meals to guests of the college or for special events. Next year Catering is moving, with the rest of Dining Services, to the Joe Rosenfield '25 Campus Center. This is supposed to improve the services Catering offers, but the future of the space it currently occupies in Grinnell House is uncertain.

The new kitchen, located on the second floor of the Campus Center, is over 1,000 square feet in area and includes a service elevator. Several private dining rooms are located across the hall from the catering kitchen. Other rooms, including the Quad-inspired Dining Pavilion, can be used for private events.

According to Catering Chef Scott Turley, the Grinnell House kitchen is only about the size of an average home's kitchen?not large enough to meet current demand. "We've outgrown it," he said.

Not only will the new kitchen produce more food, but it will also produce more types of food. "You won't always have to saut? a chicken," Turley said, noting that the appliances in Grinnell House limit his cooking methods to saut?ing, baking and roasting.

Carillo is excited, too. "[For the first time, catering is] going to be able to have several parties at the same time," he said

Like Carrillo, Turley believes the new kitchen will give catering new opportunities. "Because of our expanded space, we can take on more catering," he said. While catering currently relies on orders from the Rosenfield Symposium, the President's office and various reunions, Turley believes other campus groups may take advantage of the services.

This is good news for servers like Carrillo. One of the highest paying jobs, campus catering hours can be inconsistent from week to week. Each week, Judith Barrett '07 sends out a list of serving opportunities to a list of approximately 50 students. Times are given on a first-come, first-serve basis. "Sometimes you get lucky and check your e-mail, and there it is," said Carrillo. Dining Services Director Dick Williams and Turley are both optimistic that the campus center might allow for more jobs, although they cannot be sure.

Barrett is more cautious. "There's no guarantee that there'll be a ... rise in student works ... or events," she said.

Williams and Turley see the move as entirely positive. "As far as procedure, nothing will be different," Williams said. "Basically all we're getting is a new facility."

Officials will decide what happns to the old facility. Turley and Williams will be involved in a future meeting that will decide the fate of Grinnell House. Williams believes the Grinnell House's function will most likely remain the same, although the administrative responsibility will shift from Dining Services to another office.

Barrett hopes Williams is right. Along with her job as a server, Barrett also works for dining services by living in Grinnell House, where she checks people in at the front desk. "We'd lose something [if it stopped being a guest house]," she said. But she will have to wait several weeks to find out the future of the house?and her job in it.

Sidebar: By the numbers

1,360 - approximate square feet in the catering complex in the Joe Rosenfield '25 Campus Center

300 - approximate square feet in the current catering kitchen in Grinnell House

6 - non-student employees for Catering Services

45 - years of Grinnell House as the college's official guest house

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