Chats coffee house to open in Commons

By Mike Berry After a year-long effort to place a coffee house on campus, Dining Services' Chats will open Monday in 1920 Commons. Despite a sign posted on the door that reads, "Wondering when Chats will open?" Dining Services managers confirmed last night that the facility will open on time. "One of my fears is that many people don't know we're opening at 11:30 a.m. on Monday," said Molly Sullivan, the Chats student assistant manager and an Engineering junior. Chats will serve as a common meeting place and a late-night non-alcoholic cafe for students, Dining Services Director Bill Canney said last month. It will also be open during lunch hours and until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Managers are expecting $3,000 to $5,000 in weekly sales, according to Engineering senior Angelo Buccat, student manager of 1920 Commons. Renovations were completed last month to the 2,000 square-foot space located in the west section of Commons, which now houses a Taco Bell Express and Gene's Beans Coffee Shop. The facility also has space for a Vie de France "bakery cafe," which will open later this month. The vendors, advertised in bright neon, are located behind the Modern Language College House seating area, along with a self-serviced rink machines and a Snapple cooler. The seating area will open up into the three first floor rooms of Commons after dinner. In addition to the vendors, two ceiling-mounted televisions have been installed and a computer terminal will be in place shortly. An additional vendor may be included in the facility in the future, Buccat said. For coordinators, last month was a whirlwind of planning, marketing -- and especially hiring. Fifty student workers have been hired to staff the cafe which will be open nearly 70 hours each week. Buccat said only three union workers have been assigned to Chats. Though Dining Services normally mounts a highly publicized effort to recruit workers in the fall, Chats management has had little difficulty hiring staff. "It's hard to get students to work for Dining," he said. "We fixed it for Chats so you don't have to be on meal plan [to work]." For the new workers, this week was a crash course in making food Taco Bell style. Sullivan, who coordinates training and has worked at Taco Bell in California, met with company representatives last month to plan the training. She is now working to provide the fast and friendly service she said works in California, but is rare at Taco Bells in the area. "We're trying to compete with Wawa in that we offer customer service and fast service," Sullivan said. "I'm hoping for a better environment, faster service, and better customer service [than Wawa]." Chats is also unique because a great deal of student input was solicited electronically though the local newsgroups upenn.talk and upenn.dining-services. Dining Services Marketing Coordinator Adam Sherr, who has read the newsgroups casually for a number of years, now serves as the designated liaison from the groups to Dining management, Buccat said. Since November, students have posted to groups with ideas for new vendors, Kosher and vegetarian food and methods of payment. In response, Dining Services established three ways to purchase food at Chats -- all three utilize the PennCard, according to a newsletter released in January. An "ADM" -- automatic deposit machine -- will accept cash, Buccat said.