G Wing kiosk closed for business

STORY & PHOTOS BY GREG LONGLEY

The food kiosk on the second floor of G-Wing at Trafalgar Campus that once sold pastries and Starbucks coffee has been closed for two years now, and it doesn’t look like it’ll be reopening any time soon.

“Ultimately it’s going to come down to what Sheridan wants to do,” said Rick Haroutunian, who became the director of food services at Trafalgar after it closed.

At one time, the now-empty space was a convenient, on-the-go pit stop that catered primarily to students whose classes were in the G-Wing. But being in the rear section of campus away from populous areas, it didn’t draw enough daily traffic to sustain itself.

“I can honestly say that when I’ve been there it’s been very quiet,” said Haroutunian. “So to me it kind of made sense why something didn’t work there.”

The tiny eatery was shut down right around the time the Trafalgar Campus cafeteria underwent major renovations at the end of the 2011/12 academic year, to accommodate the growing student body. The cafeteria’s expansion had simply absorbed the nearby G-Wing kiosk, keeping many of the college’s food services in one core area.

“G-Wing traditionally didn’t have the traffic that everywhere else had,” said Elisabeth Connell, a former student and manager of ancillary services at Sheridan who was at the forefront of the project.

Prior to the renovation, the cafeteria looked about the same way that it did when the college opened in 1967, Connell explained. That alone demanded a change that would include more food vendors and a Tim Hortons self-serve counter, which replaced the G-Wing concept that had been in operation since the building was opened in 1992.

“It was a lot smaller than it is now,” Connell said. “There were only two outlets. You look at the cafeteria and it was a Harvey’s before, and a Pizza Pizza, and people were kind of bored with it. So what do we do that makes our students happy and what do they want to eat?” she considered.

“So you start asking the questions and getting feedback from our students, and you end up with a cafeteria that’s super busy, because we have what appeals to the masses, our students.”

Since the renovations were completed, the cafeteria operating revenue has gone up from $637,500 in 2011/12 to $787,500 in 2012/13, an increase of $150,000.

The Trafalgar Campus itself has grown immensely over the last several years, and it seems the removal of the G-Wing kiosk had been a long time coming.

Since the G-Wing building and the kiosk opened in 1992, the residence building was established, followed by the SCAET building with a Second Cup installed, the second Tim Hortons located in C-Wing, the Annie Smith Building and H-, J- and K-Wings, demonstrating the shift of the school’s population heading away from G-Wing, as depicted in the illustration below.

As the campus continues to grow, there doesn’t appear to be any plans in the works to move anything back in to the empty space.

“Nothing imminent,” Connell said, “but I think if there was demand I would not hesitate to look at it.”