The plan for the new student restaurant is ready. To accommodate the successor to the refectory the Bastille will get another glass front off the moving news screen. The guest restaurant in the 'Boerderij' may open end of the year.
The new dining area in the Bastille is planned to run into the already planned day café. At this moment the plan's details are still being considered by the executive board. Quotes for the build are in and Catering hopes to start the building work after the holidays and is looking forward to business by the end of the year.
The student restaurant should get 275 seats, compared to the 550 in the old refectory. Head UT-Catering Bart Dirne, however, says: 'Sixty percent of the chairs was always unoccupied. In the new space it will be busy occasionally and people may have to wait. Or go to the Stec, which will be back in the Bastille by then.'
The only unresolved issue is the large 'production kitchen'. Building a new kitchen on campus is too expensive, and the planned use of part of the Boerderij has been given up. Catering, therefore, is looking off campus for possibilities to rent for a period of five to ten years.
The severely delayed renovation of the Boerderij is now in an advanced phase. Dirne hopes to welcome diners in the new guest restaurant by the end of the year.
