Will exclude from menu all things frozen and fried, instead offering grilled cheese and other specialty sandwiches and salads, coffee and pastries
The effort to operate a Café/restaurant on the Verde Campus has a checkered history of starts, stops and closings. When it reopens this year, most likely for fall semester, it will try something different.
According to a news release issued by the College on June 22, 2022, it will now operate the Café/restaurant on the Verde Campus as a “laboratory for aspiring culinary artists and entrepreneurs as well as a showcase for the vegetables and herbs that horticulture students cultivate in an one-campus greenhouse.”
It has hired an experienced restaurateur, Kelley Foy, to direct the operation. She will be the manager and instructor for the “reimagined café.” The new café is “dubbed YCGC for YC Grilled Cheese.”
In its press release, the College says that “even while pursuing her passion for designing custom furniture and serving as the gelato chef for Merkin Vineyards in the Verde Valley, Kelley decided to tackle creating the teaching restaurant for YC because she loves cooking, loves teaching and believes hands-on experience is invaluable for students. `I’m drawn to teaching that involves actually doing the work at the same time,” Kelley said adding, “I want to be part of the direction the college is going’ — that is providing life-lifting career opportunities for individuals and strengthening our local economy.”
When it reopens, the café will operate from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The Cafe’s student staff will also cater college gatherings and events, including those hosted at the college’s teaching winery, the Southwest Wine Center.