The $3.5 million project, which was completed in August 2007, includes the renovation of 350-seat Rade Dining Hall, named after an alumnus who donated money for the transformation. A total of 35 round tables measuring 60 inches and seating 10 contribute to the non-institutional ambiance. The project includes a new building that sits next to the dining hall, which contains the Wildcat Café and kitchen. Windows and natural light in the dining hall and café bring an open, bright ambiance into the attractive space.

“We were planning to remodel the existing kitchen and servery and had gone through development stages,” says Peter Hendler, the school's director of plant services. “A performing arts center was going to be built next to the kitchen and servery areas, as well, but we realized the property wasn't big enough. So, we decided to build the servery and kitchen in the space designated for the performing arts center and relocated the performing arts center.” The area that held the old kitchen and servery is now a multi-purpose room for meetings and banquets.

Before moving forward with this project, an extensive review process with the city was required because the school sits in a historic area within Cleveland. In addition, the campus contains a landmark building. Neighbors' concerns about the new building's exterior finishes, landscaping, parking and where kids would eat when they were outside had to be addressed. “We put the kitchen on the south side of the building with the mechanical equipment on top so it wouldn't be as visible from the north side, which is next to the residential neighborhood,” Hendler explains.

The first phase of construction for the servery and kitchen occupied the entire school year, Hendler says. “During the summer, the remodeling began. “The timing was tight, but we finished on time and on budget,” he says.

“The ideas for the servery came from college campuses and retail malls,” says John Pietravoia, director of campus dining, who has been at the school for 23 years.

The new food court-style servery is a stark contrast to the former cafeteria, which was decorated with turquoise and orange wall tiles and two stainless-steel serving lines. “In the servery and dining room, we based the color palette on blue and gold, the school's colors,” says Marianne Riccardi, an interior designer with the architectural firm of Westlake Reed Leskosky. “Instead of using bold primary colors so often found in education applications, we used more mature slate blues, gun-metal grays, rich golds and ivory.

“Due to the use of so many hard-surface materials, we varied the ceiling heights to help deflect and reflect sound,” Riccardi continues. “Acoustical ceiling tiles were used in the space to help with sound absorption.”

Riccardi and her team selected materials for durability and pleasing aesthetics. Countertop materials at the food lines and cashier stations are fabricated from quartz solid-surface materials. “Any small holes in the quartz are filled with acrylic, making the slabs virtually impervious to water, stains and bacteria,” Riccardi says.

Porcelain ceramic floor tile in the main servery area is durable and easy to clean daily. In addition, staff can roll carts and other kitchen equipment across the floor with little effort.

Other features include plastic laminate with a wood-veneer look for all vertical surfaces of cabinetry. “This helps to warm up the space and give it an upscale look,” Riccardi says.

High-performance epoxy paint coatings used on gypsum board wall surfaces allow staff to easily clean vertical wall surfaces, she adds. The embossed quilted stainless-steel wall panels behind the food lines are also easy to clean, she says, and help conceal denting that may occur from rolling carts.

“In addition to aesthetics, another issue of concern for the school was to minimize the time students had to stand in lines,” says the project's foodservice consultant, Ron Kooser, COO and president, Cini-Little International. “We developed plans to show the customer capacity at each station and in the servery as a whole to make the building committee feel comfortable with the layout.”

At the entrée station each day, students can select a different hot dish, such as brown fried rice with stir-fried vegetables or spaghetti and meatballs, or a standard selection such as a burger and fries or soup and salad with fruit. Prepared food sits in heated display serving units or hot food wells. Pass-through heated cabinets and a pass-through refrigerator stand behind the counter so staff can access food directly from the kitchen.

The grill station contains a worktop refrigerator, a clamshell grill, two fryers, food warmers and display cases. This station is the most popular among Saint Ignatius students, who enjoy the chicken patty sandwiches, Wildcat burgers that are similar to McDonald's Big Mac, popcorn chicken shakers, chicken poppers and other burger selections. “The use of a clamshell grill allows faster cooking with its top and bottom heat,” Kooser says. Staff use only trans-fat-free oils in the fryers. “We don't salt fries or hash browns,” Pietravoia says.

When the café first opened, chicken was baked for the chicken patty sandwiches. Students loudly objected and convinced Pietravoia to offer the fried version.

The pizza station contains all equipment for staff to assemble and bake pies while students watch. They flatten dough with a pizza press, proof it in a heated cabinet and top it with cheese and sauces made on-site in the kitchen. Using a double-deck conveyor oven, staff bake a variety of pies, including plain cheese, pepperoni, sausage, deluxe vegetarian and barbecued chicken. A food warmer holds pizzas until staff place them for service on hot trays under heat lamps. Students can purchase whole 16-inch pies and individual slices. A 7-inch personal pan pizza is also available. Pietravoia says that students purchase up to 130 pizzas daily.

Students can also purchase strombolis and hot 6- or 14-inch subs such as Italian and turkey with bacon at this station. These menu items sit in heated display units on the countertops for students' selection. “The grill and pizza stations are easily restocked from the kitchen without interfering with the student traffic by access through the rear service aisle,” Kooser says.

A grab 'n go section sits to the right of the pizza station. Large, open-air curtain display refrigerators merchandise sandwiches, wraps, salads with on-site-made dressings, yogurt and fresh-cut fruit. Boxed lunches with corned beef and roast beef sandwiches on whole grain or rye bread, fresh-cut fruit, a small salad, cookie and granola bar also sit in the cooler. “The beverage display refrigerators in the servery back up to the coolers where beverages are delivered,” Kooser says. “This eliminates the need for staff to move beverages from one location to another. In addition, they can be directly loaded from the cooler through rear doors.”

Also near the grab 'n go section sits a marketplace corner, where students and staff can purchase retail items such as imported cookies, pasta, olive oil, and on-site-made salad dressings.

In the center of the servery, a station contains bulk cereals available at breakfast and throughout the day, milk, soup, salads and ice cream. Other food items, such as cookies, crackers and candy sit in metal buckets beside cashier stations.

The coffee and beverage area contains hot and cold beverages. It is accessible to servery customers and can also directly serve the dining room guests attending special events. “Serving takes place off the front and back of the counter and the equipment that faces the dining room is used for both purposes to maximize benefit of investment,” Kooser says.

Catering is a growing business for Saint Ignatius, so this feature contributes to the ease and productivity of event staging in the dining room. Another feature conducive to special events is portable serving equipment that sits on counters in the servery that can be removed during catered events. The quartz countertops can then hold serving dishes more conducive to the special atmosphere created for the events. In addition, the cashier stations can be disassembled and moved during special events.

In the back of the house, trucks deliver food to the new ramps and receiving area. They place goods into a walk-in cooler and a smaller freezer area.

Further toward the front, five prep tables and sinks allow staff to wash vegetables and fruit and slice meats and cheese. A double-door reach-in refrigerator holds prepared items until needed for service.

Nearby the cold prep area resides a pass-through window that allows staff to hand off items to the entrée station staff. A mixer and microwave ovens also sit near the window.

In the center of the kitchen, a double-deck convection oven bakes cookies, cakes, sub buns and rolls that are purchased par-baked from a manufacturer. “We do a big business selling cheesecakes, carrot cakes and decorated sheet cakes,” Pietravoia says.

An adjacent combi oven roasts meats, filet mignon and chicken for catered events. The staff also use the combi oven to bake cookies and boil-in-a-bag eggs. “No doubt this is one of my favorite pieces of equipment and a chef's favorite, as well,” says Pietravoia. “It is flexible and fast and even has a fry mode for oven-cooked fries.”

Also on the hot cookline, staff use a six-burner range near the combi for making sauces and sautéing vegetables.

At the end of the line, a charbroiler, which was salvaged from the former kitchen, cooks burgers, vegetables for wraps, chicken breasts for salads and sirloin strip steaks for catered events.

Behind a separating wall, a braising pan cooks spaghetti and sauces and browns meats. The adjacent kettle heats on-site-made soups. A double steamer heats vegetables, crab legs and lobsters for catered events.

Pot and pan washing takes place adjacent to the production area and is accessible to the serving area. Dishwashing is completely separated and sits in an area across the servery. “The positioning of the dishroom helps us organize better, because no one needs to go in that area for anything else,” says Pietravoia.

“I like the flow very much,” says Pietravoia, who was part of the design team. “In the old kitchen, tables were lined up and everyone had to criss-cross to go from one place to another. Now, the flow is smooth because everything has its own place so no one bumps into another. In addition, we have a full lineup of modern, state-of-the-art equipment compared to the limited pieces of equipment we had before. The mobile tables allow us to set up for various events.”

No doubt the beauty of the café and dining hall is in its ceilings, windows, cabinets, floors and countertops. But beauty is also in the details. Flexibility was a major consideration for the new foodservice operation at Saint Ignatius. It must last many years to serve several generations of high school boys. The selection of the equipment, flooring, wall panels and backsplashes was also essential to the longevity of the operation, which explains the emphasis on durability and ease to clean. Together, all the elements offer students an environment tonourish their bodies and minds for years to come.