Robin Patton, here with her son, Thomas, 9 months, is among those helped by improvements in addressing congenital heart disease. Photo by Neil Brake)
Renovation to enhance VUH cafeteria service
The Vanderbilt University Hospital Courtyard Café will be asking customers for their patience as it undergoes a four-month renovation to improve service.
The Café will close for renovation beginning Friday, July 11, at 2 p.m. and will re-open Monday, July 14, at 6 a.m.
The Vandy Cafe at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt will be open additional hours to accommodate customers during the weekend.
Also over the next four months, a hot dog cart will be placed in the food court seating area from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
During renovation, food-serving stations and cashiers (the servery) will temporarily relocate to the dining room. Outdoor seating on the plaza will be expanded during renovation, and indoor seating will be reduced by half.
The menu and food offerings will adjust to accommodate the equipment that will be available.
“We hope to decrease any inconvenience our renovation might pose for our customers,” said Associate Hospital Director George DeLong. He said the cafeteria will be able to accommodate its usual customer volume during the renovation.
The renovation will include total reconfiguration of the servery, and, in the dining room, new flooring and wall covering and a new ceiling.
“The current customer traffic pattern through our serving area is muddled, and our customer survey results confirm that the main thing we need right now is to reorganize our servery to help customers find the food they want and complete their transaction more easily and more quickly,” DeLong said. “Without expanding our space, we'll be greatly improving our customer flow.”