Chancellor Green Cafe: A Makeover In Progress

The Chancellor Green Cafe—the underground caffeine haunt favorited by grad students, humanities majors and professors alike—is under wraps as it awaits a series of renovations. We nose around a little to find out what’s going on...Cafe Construction:On December 15th, I walked into Chancellor Green Cafe, a quaint eatery in the basement of East Pyne, to buy my daily coffee. To my dismay, I was met with a translucent curtain around a construction zone. A sign in front of the curtain announced that the cafe was undergoing remodeling and would offer a limited menu over the coming weeks.     The temporarily limited display of salads, sandwiches, and snacksFortunately for me, the cafe’s Small World coffee will remain on the menu during the remodeling process. I got my caffeine boost, but remained distressed about the future of the cafe.I set out to find the full story.The Investigation Begins:December 16th, 8:00 am: I arrived at Chancellor Green Cafe as it was opening, where I met Maria Mastroianni of Dining Services. Maria informed me that although she has been at Princeton for two years, she only began working at the cafe this past September. Kathy, another worker, had been working at Chancellor Green since the opening of the cafe 13 years ago.Maria expressed that part of the purpose of the construction would be to make food more easily visible to customers. The cafe intends to shift toward a self-serve model.Maria: “It’s going to be a more hands-on location which I think is so important. This way, it’s just like shopping at a food store or a mall for clothing, people can look at something and pick what they want instead of waiting around.”The Renovations:Next, I met with Jim Sullivan and Keith Stickles, two Princeton facilities workers from the carpenter shop, as they were finishing up work at 8:05. Jim reported that they’d been there for a few hours already.Jim: “We are right now having to come in at 5:00 am for noise and smellables, because the scents that we’re cutting are offensive to some people.”Jim and Keith walked me through the construction process. I asked them what their official titles are.Jim: I’m the cabinet guys and he’s the counter guy.The hardest part of the job, Keith said, is figuring things out.Keith: “You see here, this is a radius type countertop. There are three different components going into it with three different sizes, so you have to try to figure out how to lay them out to be most efficient.”The radius countertop twists around, with three new unit spaces undergoing renovation According to Keith, the changes include remodeling the register and counter to increase accessibility for people with disabilities.Keith: “We’re lowering the counter so that it’s ADA [American Disabilities Act] compliant for reach-and-go stuff.”An email from Grant Peatman, an architectural engineer of the Office of Design and Construction, describes the specific renovations:“The project consists of new food service equipment installed in the existing cabinets, new food merchandise units and a relocated cash register,” his email read. “The renovations will provide the existing café with a more upscale appearance and permanent self-serve food options.”“The work is planned to be completed between December 15th and January 14th,” the email added.The Hotly Contested Cappuccino Machine:Disagreements have arisen about the placement of the cappuccino machine. While the Chancellor Green staff want it to go under the middle counter, some of the construction workers believe it would be best by the refrigerator. Keith: “There’s no conclusive decision as to the location of the cappuccino machine at this time”The machine temporarily lives on the counter:Stay tuned.The Iron Gate:At approximately 8:30, Keith and Jim finished up their work for the morning so as not to interfere with customers during the cafe’s regular hours.Jim: “We usually finish around 8 o’clock so people can start coming in to buy stuff”As he spoke, rolling gates began to close around the counters under construction, nearly locking me in.I managed to escape in time. Customer Feedback:Stephanie and Jill, two regulars at the Chancellor Green Cafe, arrived at approximately 8:30 am. Maria greeted them by name. Stephanie and Jill work in the classics department. I asked them their favorite foods at the cafe.Jill: Latte. Definitely the latte.Stephanie: I usually get the baked goods. Stephanie: Maybe we shouldn’t put that in the blog postJill: “Mainly we come to visit the staff because they are so friendly and wonderful”Make sure to check out the cafe’s grand unveiling on January 18th!