Rendering of the dining area for WCHOB’s new cafeteria

Completely redesigned dining and serving areas for the cafeteria at Women & Children’s Hospital will be served.

On Friday, February 12 at 6 p.m., the cafeteria will be closed so the serving area can be relocated to one end of the current dining area to accommodate the first phase of the renovation that will be completed in its entirety by Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2010.  The temporary configuration of the cafeteria will re-open Saturday morning February 13 at 6:30 a.m.

"This renovation has been planned to enhance the environment and improve flow for our very busy cafeteria serving patient families, visitors, employees, medical staff and others," said Allegra Jaros, Vice President, Hospital Operations.  "While operational efficiencies will be realized, we also expect these changes will help improve patient and staff satisfaction."

Three phases of this reconstruction include renovating the existing serving area by temporarily relocating it into the existing dining area to the left, then re-opening the redesigned serving area in its current location so the dining area can then be renovated in two phases to follow.

The following food serving stations will remain open during the entire renovation period: sauté, home (entrees & sides), soup, pizza, grill and grab & go.  All deli sandwiches and salads will be premade. 

Due to the limited space of the temporary serving area, the following items will not be available during the renovation period: made to order deli, salad bar, frozen yogurt and Pepsi fountain drinks. 

The hours of operation will remain from 6:30 am to 1:30 am with the exception of Feb. 12, when it will close at 6 p.m. to set up the temporary serving area.

The new cafe space will have all of the same stations available upon re-opening, but will be rearranged to better accommodate customer flow.  The grill and fryer will again become operational to better service customers with fresh, hot foods.  All dietary services will remain the same during the renovation with no change in the operations, including the hospitality program.

The coffee bar in the main lobby will also have refreshments and light menu items during this renovation.

Employees, medical staff and others are encouraged to use alternative seating, if available, throughout this renovation to help make limited seating be more available for patient families and other visitors until the new and improved cafeteria opens.

The Physician’s Lounge, across form the entrance into the serving are of the cafeteria, will have available seating for employees, if needed, during weekday breakfast and lunch hours, including 7 – 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this renovation as we upgrade this very busy area of our hospital.