News

Forbes Café in Stata will reopen in time for fall semester after remodel

Updated café will feature salad bars and extra cash registers for reduced wait-times

The popular Forbes Family Café located in the Ray and Maria Stata Center is slated to reopen the first week of September after renovations are complete, according to site superintendent Chris Luongo.

In an interview with The Tech, Luongo said that the café will see a variety of changes, including the addition of self-serve salad bars, a deli sandwich area, and a new seating arrangement facing the windows that overlook the Koch courtyard.

To reduce the long lines that form during lunch rush hours, renovations will also include an expanded register area that will pave the way for shorter wait times.

The café will also feature a new mosaic floor tile arrangement from Artaic, a tile manufacturer headed by MIT Sloan Fellow in Innovation and Global Leadership Ted Acworth.

“The café has been very popular with students, faculty, staff, and curious visitors who want to experience the Stata Center,” Senior Associate Dean for Residential Life and Dining Henry J. Humphreys said in a news release. “The updates will introduce some regional flavor and features that are distinctly MIT.”

Since the project began on June 5, the café area has been closed off for construction. Beside it, however, MIT Dining has provided a coffee bar serving Starbucks coffee and a selection of take-and-go meals. The MIT libraries kiosk next to the café has remained closed throughout the project. Once the Forbes Family Café reopens, the center will feature video screens that will highlight MIT library resources, services, and collections, according to an MIT Libraries news release.

Renovations are projected to conclude in early September so the Forbes Family Café can resume operations for the MIT community once the fall 2016 semester begins.