Patio Café changes summer hours of operation

The Patio Café is changing its hours of operation for the 2022 summer semester. Certain hours will be limited to ordering through the Boost mobile app and kiosk.

The approved summer hours of operation will be the following:

Mondays through Thursdays :

Patio Café 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Breakfast 8 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (Boost only)

Lunch 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. (Boost and in-person)

Hawk’s Coffee Shop 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. (Boost and in-person)

Fridays :

Patio Café and the Hawk’s Coffee Shop 8 a.m – 12 p.m. (Boost and in-person)

Weekends:

All dining services are closed 

Catering is available for summer groups.

There is currently one in-person kiosk to order from at the Patio Café and there will be no direct in-person ordering from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m Monday through Friday.

While an official announcement of the hours has not been made, Matthew Perry, director of student housing and residential life confirmed the hours listed above. 

The approval process for these hours is determined in April before there are a confirmed number of students who plan to live on campus in Hunter Hall. 

Student Housing and Residential Life are currently expecting to house 12 students in Hunter Hall for the summer semester along with residents from various intern groups such as The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Boeing Co.

UHCL uses Boost to host its online ordering services and is only available through an Apple or Android smart device. Boost does not allow ordering through its website, the only alternative that exists currently is the single boost ordering kiosk in the Patio Café.

While UHCL requires students currently housed on campus during the Fall and Spring semesters to select a meal plan, students during the summer semester have the option to not select a meal plan. Money in a student’s meal plan will not carry over to the 2022 Summer semester from the Spring 2022 semester. 

The reduction of operating hours also causes staff layoffs in the Patio Café during the Summer.

“I mean [The kitchen staff] know when I interview them that during the summer we lay people off just because we don’t have the clientele that comes,” said Michaelangelo Quiballo, Chartwells manager. 

Perry hopes to reach 200 residents on campus during an academic year to work with Dining services to shift to a traditional residential dining model where students can swipe their hawk card and eat whatever they want, similar to the system that UH uses.

“I’m hoping we can get there by the fall. That’s certainly the goal on campus right now. We had 138 students for this spring semester, so I don’t think it’s not doable to reach that number by fall. So if we hit that, then we can talk with dining and kind of push that issue a little bit more with them like we need to be open for more hours, you know, we need more food, type of offerings, you know all those conversations get had,” Perry said.