LSU Dining had hoped to fight the first cooling bite of winter with the opening of a bagel shop and two coffee shops but delays due to Hurricane Katrina may push back their debuts.
The Einstein Bagel in Johnston Hall, the Ritatzza coffee shop in the Art and Design building and a coffee shop in the Middleton Library will be opening later than expected but officials say they will be made available as soon as possible.
Mark Kraner, director of Contracted Auxiliary Services, said the Ritatzza was scheduled to open the beginning of this month, but will open between Oct. 10 and Oct. 30.
Kraner said the Einstein Bagel will be about two weeks late and open in mid to late November. Construction will begin in two weeks.
There could be further delays due to the ongoing recovery process in New Orleans, but Kraner said the University works with companies all over the country and not only in New Orleans which should prevent more delays.
“There’s a ripple effect and the ripple will be there,” Kraner said.
David Heidke, director of LSU Dining, said the coffee shop slated to be built in the Middleton Library will not open until at least the spring semester.
Kraner told The Daily Reveille in August that Auxiliary Services were negotiating with Starbucks and CC’s Coffee.
Heidke said the addition is taking longer than expected but gave no specific reasons for the delay.
Kristian Sonnier, with Community Coffee communications, said there are ongoing negotiations between CC’s and LSU dining, but wouldn’t discuss it further.
“Community Coffee has a policy that we don’t discuss future locations for CC coffee house,” Sonnier said. “We do operate a kiosk at the LSU Law Center, and we do provide coffee service at several LSU facilities.”
The Vieux Carre, a coffee shop and cafe that was located in the French House last year, closed at the end of the summer because of bankruptcy problems with the owner of the Vieux Carre.
Heidke said problems arose when the cafe was unable to provide the service needed to the students due to financial problems.
Heidke said the negotiation process to find a replacement is delayed because of the hurricane. He said most of the companies LSU Dining had begun to negotiate with were New Orleans based companies that have other concerns.
“I want these to open more than the students,” Heidke said. “We are moving forward on the program.”
Heidke said the two main projects which LSU Dining is working on, the Laville and Pentagon dining hall renovations, are still on schedule. Construction to Laville will begin in January.
Contact Ginger Gibson at [email protected]