Hidden in the French House, the Café Vieux Carré, a small, comfortable café, has served University students and faculty for two years.
The café’s name, which means “old square”, comes from the name for the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Two students, who founded the café, presented the idea of having beignets on campus.
When the idea was presented, Matt Reed and Matt Burger were University students. Although they have graduated from the university, their business still is booming.
Requesting a café in the French House, honor students helped the café find its home.
They started by selling beignets, cinnamon rolls and croissants.
Reed has recently returned to help manage the cafe’ with Burger. As a new manager, Reed said his focus is “to make this a fun place to be.”
By creating a cozy atmosphere, it makes people feel at home.
“The café has a ‘Mom and Pop’ feel to it,” Reed said.
The café now serves food made from scratch during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also, they provide coffee, frozen drinks and homemade hot chocolate.
Luke Perkins, a management junior who works at the cafe’, said the café sometimes gives away left over beignets at closing time.
During the semester, they have a “free beignet day,” where they give away beignets all day long.
In the café, they frequently pass out treats like homemade fudge.
“Why not reward people for coming in?” Reed said, “It gives them a nice break from studying,”
While they serve a variety of food and drinks, Perkins said it is a friendly atmosphere that appeals to the students.
“It’s like ‘Cheers’ where everybody knows your name,” Perkins said.
The workers are ready to serve the customers with anything they want.
“If a customer came in after we had cleaned up, then we would break out all of the stuff so that we could serve them,” Perkins said.
Jessica Arabie, an accounting freshman, said that the café is different that the Union.
“It is what you would expect a college coffee house to look like,” Arabie said, “It is cute and quaint.”
Richard Miller, a mechanical engineering freshman, said that the café feels close and more intimate than other campus dining facilities.
“It doesn’t have thousands of people like the Union,” Miller said.
Arabie said she comes here to eat and chat.
Perkins said that if any customer comes in and makes a suggestion, then they would try to meet their demand.
“We are thinking about making a list of all the music we have, so that customers can choose what music they would like to listen to while they eat or study,” Perkins said.