Community brews ideas for Broad Arts Café
By Ben Thaler
Nov. 8, 2007 9:01 p.m.
Broad Arts Café, the newest food service operation from Associated Students UCLA, has received a mix of praise for the role that faculty and students had in its design and implementation and criticism for its layout and limited menu.
The cafe, which opened on Oct. 8, was the final stage of construction at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center, which is in the northern end of campus, said Guy Custis, the director of operations at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.
Custis said ASUCLA took initiative to include faculty, student and staff input at every stage of the cafe’s construction and implementation.
“The architectural company (that designed the building) brought in the furniture, but we came up with the design and structure,” Custis said.
Cindy Bolton, director of ASUCLA restaurants, said a small group of students worked with Rebecca Mendez, a Design | Media Arts professor, to design the cafe’s logo and menu board. Mendez could not be reached for comment at press time.
“There’s not much room for signage around there, so (the students) designed the whole menu board to be the central identification of the area, and they created this really neat look for the cafe,” Bolton said.
In addition, the unofficial name of the operation ““ “Untitled” ““ was chosen by students in a ballot vote.
“(We) put out lists and ballots throughout the building, so students could write in names for the cafe, then we compiled those and allowed the students to vote on them,” she said.
Jono Brandel, a fourth-year Design | Media Arts student, said the cafe brings people from the School of Arts and Architecture together.
“Undergrads, grads and professors all use the cafe at the same time, and on top of that, the cafe is open until 9 p.m., which is when the best ideas come into fruition,” Brandel said.
The menu at Broad Arts Café, which consists primarily of light lunch items such as sandwiches and salads, also received student input.
Custis said a group of students and faculty visited the North Campus Student Center and taste-tested a number of food items. The current items on the menu, which include a number of vegetarian options, are at least partially attributable to the students’ preferences, he said.
But despite these efforts, some students raised concerns about the structure and menu of the cafe.
“The space echoes quite a bit, creating an almost chaotic environment with the clashing of voices as they bounce off the walls,” said Brittany Maxwell, a fourth-year Design | Media Arts student.
Maxwell added that some of her peers believe the limited menu makes the cafe irrelevant, as Northern Lights and LuValle Commons are close by with more options.
“It’s convenient to have a place to grab a quick cup of coffee or a fast bite of food in our building, but otherwise … I would recommend (going elsewhere),” she said.
Camile Orillaneda, a fourth-year Design | Media Arts student, said the tables are incapable of accommodating more than one person, and the chairs are “not exactly ones you would find most comfortable.”
But Orillaneda said the design of the cafe fits the feel of the Broad Art Center, which she described as “hip and clean” rather than “artsy and creative.”
Since its opening last month, business at the cafe has been relatively slow, averaging 200 customers a day, Bolton said.
Bolton attributed the slow start in part to the cafe’s hours of operation, which are from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“We are starting out with extended hours to gain information on traffic patterns, and we’re reviewing our sales information now with hourly reports. We may shorten some of the hours when there is no demand for service,” she said.
