University administrators will spend $500 thousand this summer to renovate Mirror Lake Cafe. When students return for Autumn Quarter, they will be able to use their meal swipes at the new Mirror Lake Creamery and Grill.
The revamped restaurant will offer a new menu with gourmet hamburgers and chicken sandwiches, as well as Ohio State ice cream.
“We are partnering with the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences and they are actually going to produce ice cream for us to serve in the new facility,” said Abby Hertzfeld, associate director of Campus Dining Services. “It’s Ohio State students, with Ohio State dairy, producing ice cream that’s going to be sold at Ohio State. We’ve been working with them for a couple years now trying to figure out where the perfect place to showcase the product would be.”
Josh Grossman, a sophomore in business, was disappointed when he first heard about the change.
“I like Mirror Lake just the way it is. It’s the only place you can get a good sub using meal swipes. In my opinion, the change is a mistake,” he said.
Evidently, Grossman wasn’t alone. After hearing complaints and concerns from student employees regarding the elimination of popular menu items, Hertzfeld and Campus Dining decided to accommodate their requests.
“We had some meetings and they felt really strongly that the customer base would not return if we didn’t have some traditional items like the subs, the chili and the salads,” Hertzfeld said. “So we worked through the drawings with the architects and we were able to add conveyor ovens and other equipment so that we could still offer the staple menu items.”
Just as they have no intention of destroying the old menu, Hertzfeld says Campus Dining doesn’t intend to destroy the historic dining area within Pomerene Hall, which is in the process of being named a historical building.
“Believe it or not, we want to bring it back to its original state, feature the architecture within the facility, bring the woodwork back and have it all refinished, return the building to its historical state,” she said.
While they will return the building’s image to that of many years ago, Campus Dining does plan to install two new cash registers with the hopes of decreasing wait times. Hertzfeld also expects to employ more student workers after the renovation.
Another reason that Mirror Lake Caf&e was chosen for renovation is the dining hall’s diminishing sales. Mirror Lake serves about 13,000 customers a week, which Hertzfeld said is low.
“Mirror Lake has lost a lot of its market share within campus dining. It’s been consistently losing business every year because of MarketPlace, Fresh Express, Courtside Caf&e and some of the newer concepts that have opened up within walking distance of Mirror Lake,” she said. “So we decided it was time to do something different to draw in students and return this place to its original luster.”
Hertzfeld said she expects to serve about 16,250 students a week when the new renovated hall opens.
Now that he knows his favorite menu options aren’t going away, Grossman says he will continue to eat at Mirror Lake.
“So they’re going to keep the subs and offer sandwiches and milkshakes? If that’s the case then I have no problem with the changes to Mirror Lake. Actually, I’m looking forward to them,” he said.
Richard Oviatt can be reached at [email protected].
