2008 Woodie Awards
America's Cup Room looks to plot course to attract student customers
Robert Preliasco
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Campus
02/20/08 - The America's Cup Room is an eatery with a central campus location, low prices, no tax, a diverse menu and a sit-down, full-service style that is lacking at other university eateries. The only thing it lacks is student-customers.
Since re-opening in its location in the corner of the Ram's Den in 1992, the America's Cup Room has seen no more than a trickle of students during its daily lunch service.
"Only about a quarter of our business is students," said Jo Anne Stephens, general manager of the Ram's Den, who also oversees the mostly student-run Cup Room. "Students do come, but we'd like a little more to be exposed to what we do."
Stephens said most of the Cup Room's clientele are professors. She said students don't seem to know that the Cup Room exists and is open to them, and drawing off-campus customers is difficult because of a lack of nearby parking.
The Cup Room has featured celebrity chefs, taken out newspaper ads and looked into hanging flags out the windows, but the staff was not allowed to because of building regulations. Nothing seems to have successfully attracted students.
"Usually the first place students are exposed to or the one that's closest to their dorm is where they eat," Stephens said.
She added that tours do not travel through the Cup Room, a fact that may contribute to its anonymity among students. However, anyone who does enter will find a quiet dining room decorated on par with any other off-campus restaurant. Model yachts are on display to commemorate the restaurant's namesake nautical race, and the lower campus can be seen sloping away out the windows.
"We have some beautiful views, especially in the fall," Stephens said.
The dining room is presided over by Alison Parks, the Cup Room's student manager, who is in charge of eight other student employees.
"I think one of the most interesting things about us is we're all students," Parks said. "We all get a chance to run it together."
Since re-opening in its location in the corner of the Ram's Den in 1992, the America's Cup Room has seen no more than a trickle of students during its daily lunch service.
"Only about a quarter of our business is students," said Jo Anne Stephens, general manager of the Ram's Den, who also oversees the mostly student-run Cup Room. "Students do come, but we'd like a little more to be exposed to what we do."
Stephens said most of the Cup Room's clientele are professors. She said students don't seem to know that the Cup Room exists and is open to them, and drawing off-campus customers is difficult because of a lack of nearby parking.
The Cup Room has featured celebrity chefs, taken out newspaper ads and looked into hanging flags out the windows, but the staff was not allowed to because of building regulations. Nothing seems to have successfully attracted students.
"Usually the first place students are exposed to or the one that's closest to their dorm is where they eat," Stephens said.
She added that tours do not travel through the Cup Room, a fact that may contribute to its anonymity among students. However, anyone who does enter will find a quiet dining room decorated on par with any other off-campus restaurant. Model yachts are on display to commemorate the restaurant's namesake nautical race, and the lower campus can be seen sloping away out the windows.
"We have some beautiful views, especially in the fall," Stephens said.
The dining room is presided over by Alison Parks, the Cup Room's student manager, who is in charge of eight other student employees.
"I think one of the most interesting things about us is we're all students," Parks said. "We all get a chance to run it together."