Grille to open seven days a week

With the hiring of a new manager, the Grille will once again be open seven days a week. The new schedule will take effect the week of March 7 as David Cannistra comes on board as general manager of retail foods, overseeing dining operations at the Grille, the Ralph Myhre golf course and the lodge at the Snow Bowl.

In the fall of 2009, the Grille was forced to reduce its hours as a result of a loss of several staff members and financial constraints.  The addition of Cannistra to the dining services staff, along with the addition of other management employees, will allow for the continuation of services that students say were sorely missed, including delivery service in the near future.

Solon Coburn, the morning manager of dining services, sees adding a general manager as a wise move.

“It is good sense to have a manager,” Coburn said.  “It will help us expand our hours and bring more direction and focus to retail operations … Besides the little day-to-day fires you’re putting out, it is good to look at the big picture.”

The focus on hiring someone familiar with the business side of dining was central throughout the interview process.

“We wanted someone with a strong retail restaurant experience because that’s what we’re running,” said Corbin.  “We really weren’t looking for somebody that came out of higher education, we were looking for people who … worked for commercial ventures where bottom-line profit and customer service drove the business.”

Cannistra fit those requirements well. He and his family moved to Middlebury this past weekend from Lake Placid where Cannistra has been working for several years as the culinary manager of all 13 dining establishments at the Lake Placid Olympic venue.

His experience includes working with a high-end catering company, running an upscale food provider for private schools in Florida, owning two of his own restaurants and managing dining services for several other large organizations.

“This job actually combines a tremendous amount of my experiences,” said Cannistra. “From the private school aspect … to running the skiing venues in Lake Placid … my background is pretty well suited for this job.”

Cannistra is glad to be here and has been looking forward to becoming a part of the Middlebury community since his first interview.

“I had an incredible feeling at that point that this is a tremendous place to work,” he said. “Everything is focused on the students and everybody has that same kind of goal.”

After completing the extensive interview process, “it was almost like it was home,” said Cannistra.  “I just had that feeling that I haven’t had in a long time in a job. Right after my first interview, I became really focused on getting this one job so I’m glad it worked out and I think it is going to be mutually beneficial to everybody.”

Cannistra’s mere presence on campus will allow for some immediate changes. According to Corbin, “Delivery will continue to be run by the student group until the first of April but then it will revert back to the student fundraising groups that have done it in the past.”

Corbin said they are prepared to expand Grille hours significantly.  “We have hired the staff for Monday and Sunday nights and they are being trained,” wrote Corbin in an e-mail.  “Sunday and Monday night hours will return to the Grille on Monday, March 7.”

Until he has time to evaluate the situation, Cannistra says he cannot predict what kind of changes students might see.

“I just want to build on the good foundation that’s already here and look for different ways to improve and different ways to meet the financial expectations … bringing everything together.”

The changes in the coming weeks will mark the end of a long period of student dissatisfaction with the Grille’s hours.

“I think this is great because students will finally have a space they can hang out in and get food in on Monday nights and Sunday all day,” wrote Ray Queliz ’11, student co-chair of Community Council, in an e-mail.

President of the SGA Riley O’Rourke ’12 looks forward most to the return of Grille delivery.

“Student groups have been the real casualty of these loss of hours, as they have lost about $25,000 in revenue generated from Grille delivery,” O’Rourke wrote in an e-mail. “The program can only help the Grille make money too, as it is done at no cost to them.”

For O’Rourke, though, the changes ought to go farther than a return to the status quo ante and seek to redefine McCullough.

“A school of our caliber deserves a real student center,” O’Rourke wrote.  He is currently working with the administration to install “some sort of gate to the kitchen so the room can be left open for longer hours. The TV room and social space should be available to students even when the room is closed,” commented O’Rourke.

In order to expand hours further, O’Rourke suggests limiting Grille hours during lower traffic times in the evening.

“Moving the current hours to times that actually help students would be a good first step,” he wrote.  “One way to make this possible would be to close during dinner hours at the dining hall.”