ASUCLA to revamp eateries

To better meet the variety-seeking tastes of the campus
population, the Associated Students of UCLA are planning to
renovate most on-campus eateries and introduce some new dining
schemes.

ASUCLA created the Food Services Master Plan to improve the
quality, variety and locations of their eating operations.

To some UCLA students, proposals on the plan will be a welcome
change from the monotony of foods currently offered.

“I pretty much try to avoid eating here as much as
possible,” said Osvaldo Gomez, a fifth-year political science
and comparative literature student, who said he is a picky
eater.

One highlight of the plan is the implementation of a pub in the
Cooperage of Ackerman Student Union, where beer and wine would be
served.

But instead of a party environment, the atmosphere would be
designed for students and colleagues to socialize amid pool tables
and televised sporting events, said ASUCLA Food Services Director
Bob Williams.

“We’re going to mandate responsibility … it will
be under a high level of security,” Williams said at the
Friday board of directors meeting. “It’s not going to
be a place where people throw peanuts on the floor.”

Though implementation of the pub still needs to undergo approval
by various student groups such as the Undergraduate Students
Association Council and the On Campus Housing Council, ASUCLA is
hoping to have it open by fall of 2004, said Dria Fearn, who serves
on the board’s finance committee.

In addition to the pub, students could also dine in a classier
atmosphere where the menus will contain more “upscale”
food ““ possibly served by waiters, according to the plan.

But this could prove too costly to students who think the price
of food on campus is already high.

“At my old (junior college), two dollars could get you a
full meal,” said fourth-year mathematics student Daniel
Lindsey. “But here, you can’t get anything for five
dollars.”

And though the Cooperage could be transformed into a new world
of upscale dining, low-cost food alternatives will still be
available elsewhere, Association officials said.

“We won’t make it a land of Rubios,” said
Student Union Director Jerry Mann. “Some concepts would move
out of the Coop and some would stay in.”

The plan isn’t limited to Ackerman Student Union; new
renovations and remodeled food services are planned to occur all
over campus.

At Campus Corner ““ where Taco Bell currently resides
““ ASUCLA is looking into adding a Jamba Juice franchise.

This would leave Tropix, Ackerman’s smoothie center,
sacrificed for a health food-based operation. Tentatively nicknamed
The Greenhouse, students would have access to a variety of non-fast
food options, such as a soup and salad bar.

And over at Bruin Walk, alongside the Men’s Gym, a Bruin
Marketplace is in the making, tentatively set for Spring 2003. The
Marketplace would consist of a newsstand-like setting with a menu
offering different grab-and-go food options.

Bruin Marketplace will be a tremendous convenience to students
and food sales since it would reside in one of UCLA’s most
popular passing areas, Williams said.

Though the Food Services Master Plan would cost ASUCLA
approximately $9.6 million, the $7.50 student union fee charged to
students is in no danger of increasing, Fearn said.

“We’re hoping to have it pay for itself through
efficiency and greater number of sales,” Fearn said.