Facing a projected operating loss of $150,000 for the 2002-2003 academic year, Dining Services will close the Freeman Center for Jewish Life's kosher kitchen at the end of the semester, officials announced Thursday.
Despite positive reviews of the food, financial difficulties have plagued the kitchen since it opened three years ago. The failure of a new kosher board plan to attract enough participants to sustain the kitchen convinced the University it was not financially viable.
"As much as we've done an extraordinary job providing a great meal program there, we only had 24 people sign up at the beginning of the [fall for the board plan] and we're now down to nine," said Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst.
The business model for the board plan necessitated about 150 students to commit to eating five dinners a week at the facility.
"There are almost 1,000 students on Duke's campus that are Jewish, and although they don't all keep a kosher kitchen at home, we thought we had a pretty good shot at getting them," Wulforst added.
Jonathan Gerstl, Freeman Center executive director, said he was saddened by the kitchen's loss, which brought a steady flow of traffic to the building.
The eatery still often attracts as many as 100 diners per evening - fostered by the acceptance of food points for upperclassmen, the option for freshmen to swap meals with those at the East Campus Marketplace and the hosting of FOCUS program dinners.
But without board diners each night, the fluctuating number of diners has driven up the cost of providing the food by the three staff members, who will be relocated within the campus dining system. The kitchen lost $75,000 last year, and that number is projected to double this year - sums that Dining Services must absorb.
Without the kitchen or meal plan available in the fall, the University will likely buy pre-packaged frozen dishes from an outside company, and offer them to kosher students in the various food courts on campus.
Gerstl said he thought it would be a shame if students needed to transfer from Duke because of the changes, but admitted it was a possibility. "But whether we lose good potential students because we don't have this kind of an option is something that I'm more concerned about in terms of building a strong vibrant Jewish community here at Duke," he added.
The center will continue to offer Friday night Shabbat and holiday kosher meals. A kosher deli could become part of the dining services offered in the new "student village," Wulforst said.
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta could not be reached for comment, but Wulforst said when he notified Moneta of the closing, Moneta said he was sad to see the kitchen go, understood the reasoning and wanted to make sure that kosher students would still have options next year.
Justin Segall, executive vice president of the FCJL student board and a board plan participant, said the loss will have a major impact on the center.
"For me, it's also a loss of community - the people who I eat with in the Jewish community and a lot of other people that I've met eating there," said Segall, a sophomore. "It's different from The Great Hall because people who don't know each other at the same table actually speak with each other."
Because next year he can live on Central Campus, where he can prepare his own meals, Segall said he will not transfer to another school, as he was considering last year when the kitchen almost closed.
"For students who may be sophomores [or freshmen] next year, it's going to be more difficult," he said. "Let's face it: Eating frozen meals all the time is not exactly the ideal choice."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.