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Loker Commons has been too quiet. New plans aim to bring on the bustle. Photograph by Kris Snibbe

Substantial losses at the four pay-as-you-go eateries in Loker Commons, the student center cum food court in the basement of Memorial Hall, have forced Harvard Dining Services (HUDS) to refocus and scale back its operations there. The eateries opened in January of 1996 with 17-hour-a day service. By September, when HUDS realized that patronage was never going to meet the University's expectations, a plan of action was formulated that resulted in changes in December. HUDS has now adjusted the hours of operation at three of its Loker concessions to better fit patron traffic patterns: they are open eight hours a day, and a fourth concession, with longer hours, features best-selling items from the other three on a self-serve basis under the name Fast Track. Current shortfalls in revenue are down to between $1,500 and $2,000 a day. Under the current restructuring, HUDS expects to be breaking even on its Loker operations next year.

The losses are a direct result of the fact that fewer people are patronizing the space than its planners had anticipated. Says Leonard Condenzio, HUDS acting director, "Loker Commons was designed to be a meeting and gathering place that would have many different types of activities, in which food would complement that experience." The reality is that students, typically, study there in the relative quiet between meals. Just a few hundred yards away in the Science Center, HUDS's Greenhouse Café, which has a single point of sale to Loker's four, does more business on a daily basis.

Dean of students Archie Epps says that the "space was originally planned so that non-Harvard affiliates attending weekend performances at Sanders Theatre could also buy food." But the University has decided not to pursue the necessary victualler's license for that on the advice of its lawyers.

Now Epps, after meeting with the leaders of several undergraduate groups, is implementing new ideas to increase the patron count. Plans include the special screening of Harvard-Radcliffe TV's soap operas, and the engagement of student performers, who have responded enthusiastically. Epps has also instituted public readings (Henry Louis Gates Jr. and John Kenneth Galbraith are among the headliners), and a book swap and florist. The dean has also commissioned a survey of undergraduates that asks how they spend time at Loker, how they feel about its offerings, and what, if anything, they would like to see changed.

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