At 7:30 yesterday morning, students stumbling through the Bryan Center in search of their morning coffee found it-in the Alpine Atrium. No longer Le Grand Cafe, the recently renovated coffee shop is now operated by the owners of Alpine Bagels & Brews.
The change, said Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst, came as a response to student dissatisfaction with the University-run Cafe's hours and menu. With privately owned Alpine Bagels' management of the "premium space," Wulforst said he hoped to restore the consistent selection-and higher profits-the Cafe boasted in its earlier days.
"There was a dramatic decrease in sales at the Cafe, and I was not satisfied with the progress made to reverse the trend," he said. Before the Cafe was renovated, Wulforst explained, it earned $1,000 each day; after the renovation, sales jumped to $3,000 a day. But between the Cafe's reopening in October 1997 and now, he said, sales have dropped 50 percent from their immediate post-renovation levels.
In its new satellite location, Alpine has a one-year arrangement with Dining Services in which a commission is paid to the University on a sliding scale based on profit. After the year, the company will have the option to renew its contract. "If the Duke community is not happy," Wulforst said, "[Alpine] will move on."
Ninety percent of full-time Cafe employees have become staff members for Alpine Bagels; Chris Sullivan, one of the bagel chain's co-founders, said he offered jobs to all Cafe staff. Sullivan said the Atrium will continue to hire students, who will complement a "core crew" of full-time employees.
Wulforst said he expects this change to stabilize the Cafe's erratic hours-the primary complaint that the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee presented to him.
"Especially during finals, the Cafe would close kind of early. Sometimes, they would run out of food before dinner," said Trinity sophomore Ashley Fretthold, the DUSDAC's co-chair.
The Atrium has more formal hours: It closes at midnight on weeknights and 10 p.m. on weekends.
Diane Connor, former manager of the Cafe and current employee at the Atrium, said she is pleased with the change in ownership.
"Alpine is a good company to work for," she said. "The managers are compassionate to student schedules as well as our needs."
Wulforst said the owners of George's Gourmet Garage and Foster's Market expressed interest in taking over the Cafe's Bryan Center space, but were turned down because they wanted to further limit the eatery's hours and failed to offer a competitive commission for their services.
After the Atrium completes its changes-a process that Sullivan estimated will take a month-it will offer sandwiches, frozen yogurt, pasta salads, pastries, coffee and smoothies. Bagels are included in the pastry windows, but are not the main feature of the new venue.
The addition of smoothies has been put on hold while electrical problems in the Bryan Center are rectified.
"There is a limited amount of power in the building," Wulforst said. "I'm very upset that we're not fully operational today.... It's a matter of me spending more money to fix a problem that's a building problem."
The corrections will cost Dining Services around $35,000; Wulforst said electrical work will begin within a week.
Sullivan said the Atrium will not necessarily detract from Alpine Bagels' restaurant in the West Union Building, partly because of the distinct menu, but also because of location.
"There is different student traffic in there than on [the West Union] part of campus," Sullivan said. "If we thought it would hurt [the original business], we wouldn't do it."
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