Plans to create a student-run cafe in the Shatner Building continue to develop as SSMU leadership considers different scenarios and the possibility of an extended time frame.
Brought forward last year, the project’s time frame has expanded significantly, and VP Finance and Operations Jean-Paul Briggs told The Daily that he does not believe the cafe will open at the beginning of the next academic semester as originally planned.
According to Briggs, “a fully functional and highly operational cafe…won’t be feasible for the start of next year. But we are still in the process of trying to make it happen.”
SSMU is currently carrying out a study to assess the feasibility of a student-run cafe. The project was allocated $200,000 last year and will
According to SSMU President Josh Redel, the undergoing lease negotiations with the University regarding the Shatner Building have affected the project.
“The lease negotiations have a huge impact on how much we get to spend on the cafe now and in the years,” Redel told The Daily. “Right now, the way negotiations are going, we are just so uncertain, it’s too up in the air.”
According to Briggs, students involved in the feasibility committee are looking at what “niches” in the University marketplace are available to the student-run café.
“The core tenants of a student- run, for-student enterprise is that it has to be accessible financially, socially, and every other way,” said Briggs.