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July 22, 2002
Whole Earth Restaurant closes; new vendor sought
for site
By Louise
Donahue
The Whole Earth Restaurant, a fixture at UCSC since
its beginnings
as a cooperative in the 1970s, has closed. Bids for a new restaurant
will be solicited and reviewed by the Graduate Student
Governance Board--the
restaurant is part of the Graduate Student Commons--as soon
as possible.
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Bob Pallares at the Whole Earth Restaurant in the summer of
2001. Photo:
Louise Donahue
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In the meantime, the governance board is looking into possibilities
for providing some limited food service, and the site's
outside seating
will remain available for customers of the Express Store and others
in the campus community who may wish to "brown-bag it."
"We hope to replace the Whole Earth with a vibrant
new restaurant
by fall quarter that still provides the casual ambience,
excellent service,
and wide variety of menu items, both vegetarian and
nonvegetarian, expected
by the campus community," the Graduate Student Commons
Governance
Board said in a memo to the campus community.
The site at the campus's hub--near the bookstore, the new
Student Union,
and other facilities, with shuttle service close by--makes
it a choice
location for a restaurant, board members said.
"It's sad. I've been here a long time,"said
Whole Earth owner
Bob Pallares, who attended UCSC from 1982 to 1988. Pallares said he
had been with the restaurant for 17 years, buying into it
in 1990 after
it had evolved into a privately owned corporation. Pallares
cited losses
in recent years, stemming in part from the economic downturn and the
cost of new equipment at the restaurant's new site, which opened last
summer at Quarry Plaza.
"We've always appreciated and loved having the Whole Earth as
part of our community," said Gail Heit, associate vice
chancellor
for student affairs. "It was unfortunate that they were unable
to be financially viable. We knew they were struggling and we made as
many allowances as possible to assist the restaurant during
its transition
into the new facility."
"Unfortunately, we reached a point where their level
of indebtedness
to both the Graduate Commons and other service providers
made it impossible
to go on," Heit said.
The Graduate Student Commons Governance Board hopes to
have a new vendor
operating at the site sometime during fall quarter.
"We don't wish
to rule out any type of restaurant and are pursuing vendors
consistent
with the campus expectations and culture," the board said in a
statement. "We are currently looking for a vendor
operating a single
dining service facility with an annual gross sales volume of at least
$300,000."
Comments on replacement vendors and food choices are being sought by
the board through an
online survey on the Graduate
Student Commons web page.
Text
of the Graduate Student Commons Governance Board memo
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