Roth Café Renovation Project
History and Vision |
The Roth Cafe Building was constructed between 1965
and 1966. Since then, Roth Cafeteria has served over
25 million meals to four decades of Stony Brook
students.
The original building was designed to accommodate
residential dining during fixed meal periods. Large
coat rooms were designed into the first floor and
students were expected to arrive during two hour
blocks of time for three meal periods each day. Two
identical serving lines provided several traditional
entrees during each meal, with a central dish return
room located in between. During the 1980’s, a Kosher
Dining room was located in the east wing of the
dining hall.
In 1992, Roth Dining Hall became the first facility
at Stony Brook to accommodate a la carte declining
balance. The overwhelming popularity of this change,
which allowed flexibility to accommodate a rapidly
increasing diversity in student preferences for
dining options and times, soon resulted in the
“traditional meal plan” being replaced with full
declining balance at Stony Brook.
The Burger King, which opened in 1993, was one of
the first national franchises on a University
campus. During weekdays of the academic year, it was
the busiest Burger King on Long Island
To meet the need for more points of service as meal
plan enrollment grew throughout the 1990s, the
additional serving counters were added to the main
dining room.
Although the facility adapted to the declining
balance program, the kitchen had been designed for
cooking large batches of food, rather than for
supporting meal preparation to order. The serving
lines were far too small to accommodate the number
of customers who used Roth Dining Hall on a regular
basis.
The first step towards the full renovation of Roth
Dining Hall occurred in 2005 with the closing of the
Roth Kosher Dining Room and its replacement with
Delancey Street Kosher Delicatessen and Restaurant
in the Stony Brook Union Building.
The renovation of the Roth Cafe building in 2007-08
will create a new food-court style facility that is
specifically designed for making to order the most
popular food choices on campus, including sandwiches
and pizza.
The food court design will has been designed for
maximum efficiency and will accommodate anticipated
new technology that will eventually allow students
to pre-order meals on-line and from personal
hand-held communication devices.
Most of the interior walls surrounding the dining
seating area will be removed, creating a very
attractive room overlooking Roth Pond and the
landscaping on two other sides of the building. It
will have traditional tables and chairs, as well as
more comfortable lounge furnishings, as well as
wireless capability. It is hoped that this will
encourage more students, faculty and staff to
congregate and socialize in this area, helping to
further develop a sense of campus community at Stony
Brook.
The renovation will also utilize the location of the
new Roth Food Court to its best advantage:
o A ramp will be added to the building, allowing
students living in Tabler Quad or students getting
off of the bus at the Tabler bus stop, to directly
enter the food court without having to first go down
to the lobby level of the building and then up steps
on the inside of the building.
The short four minute walk to the newly renovated
Roth Food Court from the Academic Mall will help
draw customers away from the Student Activity Center
Food Court, helping to reduce overcrowding in that
facility.
After the renovation in Kelly Dining Center seven
years ago, that facility surpassed the Student
Activities Center in daily meal transactions for the
next five consecutive years. The design of the new
Roth Food Court will allow it to serve over 1
million customers per year, possibly making it the
most utilized dining facility on the Stony Brook
University campus.
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New Food Service Offerings |
| The new food stations were chosen based on extensive
surveys of student preferences.
•Wendy’s
•Mamma Leone’s Pizza
•Seawolves Subs
•International Market
•Pura Vida Coffeehouse
It is anticipated that the new dining center will be
serving over 1.1 million meals a year. The building
renovation will also provide space on the lower level
for eventual uses as part of the Undergraduate College
program for first year students.
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