Garden Cafe Opens Oct. 17
BWH’s newly renovated Garden Cafe opens Monday, Oct. 17.
The cafe, formerly known as the BWH Cafeteria, features several updates, including new and enhanced menu offerings, additional seating and more natural light.
“It’s thrilling to see the renovation project wrap up,” said Susan Langill, RD, LDN, BWHC Food Services director. “I can’t wait to see the smiles on people’s faces when they visit the cafe for the first time in just a couple of weeks.”
The cafe has been closed for renovations since March. The goal for the space, says Peter Lamb, director of BWH Food Services, is to reflect the hospital’s mission of overall health and well-being.
“The Garden Cafe is a place where people will want to visit and stay for a while,” he said. “Spaces such as this one are tremendously important for the well-being of our staff, patients and visitors.”
Inside the Garden Cafe, guests will be surrounded by natural light and full-radius views of the outdoors.
An expansive menu will feature local produce and dairy products, in addition to new options at an exhibition station, a stone hearth pizza oven, rotisserie, a Red Mango counter with smoothies and juices, an infused water station and more. The cafe also boasts an expanded salad bar and updated deli, grill and hot food stations.
Feedback from guest surveys was top of mind when designing the new space, Langill said.
“This entire cafe was renovated with our guests in mind,” Langill said. “The new cafe is going to be a fabulous space for all who visit.”
Steve Dempsey, BWH director of Planning and Construction, is proud of all the teams who worked together to make the renovation project a success.
“This is a spectacular and transformational space,” Dempsey said. “We’ve made several great design decisions that people will appreciate for years to come.”
Learn more about the opening of the Garden Cafe and other important Food Services updates.
8 Responses to “Garden Cafe Opens Oct. 17”
Hi, I have 2 comments. I was hoping to eat the rotisserie chicken for lunch but was told that was for dinner so they were unable to serve it. Also there needs to be more cash registers available to check out.. Otherwise it is a lovely space and feels very upgraded.
Greetings,
My name is Peter Lamb and I am the Director of Food Services. So many thanks for your input.
On Monday October 17th, we were completely overwhelmed with business. Instead of our normal 3,300 customers, we did almost 5,000 during the day. The interest factor in the Longwood Medical Area emptied out both Children’s and Dana Farber Cafe’s. Tuesday then saw a slight decrease but still way above average. We completely own the poor service that you experienced and are working feverishly to correct in a sustainable way.
We are staffing up to meet the overwhelming response and will soon have Rotisserie Items regularly scheduled on the menu. We will feature Rotisserie Pork, Beef and of course Chicken. We are not at the point yet where we will be offering rotisserie chicken every day.
We hear you on staffing of the cash registers and are now having 3 cashiers in the rear of the cafe and three in the front of the Cafe during peak periods. We are also employing a mobile line buster cashier that can accept Payroll Deduction and cash. This has helped tremendously.
Again, we are so very thankful for your observations / suggestions. Keep them coming and our service model will be better for it.
Sincerely,
Peter D. Lamb
Director of Food Services
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
75 Francis Street
Boston Ma. 02115
Cell: 413-854-5394
Office: 617-732-5269
Fax: 617-732-7558
Hi, My first visit was very disappointing this evening. I waited 15 mins for “express” turkey, squash, mashed potatoes, (all which was cold). I’m hearing from my fellow night shift workers, that hot entrees which used to be available until 11:30 are no longer available. The pizza, frozen yogurt also not available to any part of the night shift. It is a beautiful space, wish the night shift had more options for dinner. Service needs to improve greatly, I can’t wait 15 mins on my 30 min break.
Greetings,
My name is Peter Lamb and I am the Director of Food Services. So many thanks for your input.
On Monday October 17th, we were completely overwhelmed with business. Instead of our normal 3,300 customers, we did almost 5,000 during the day. The interest factor in the Longwood Medical Area emptied out both Children’s and Dana Farber Cafe’s. Tuesday then saw a slight decrease but still way above average. We completely own the poor service that you experienced and are working feverishly to correct in a sustainable way.
Our Entree Station had been consolidated with the Deli Station at night giving the impression that the Entree Station was closed. We hear you on this and will be hiring another Server 7 days a week to ensure that the Entree Station Proper is staffed and that a hot meal will be available until 11:30 PM.
Concerning the Red Mango & Pizza operations operating late night hours, we will absolutely consider hiring and staffing those concepts.
Again, we are so very thankful for your observations / suggestions. Keep them coming and our service model will be better for it.
Sincerely,
Peter D. Lamb
Director of Food Services
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
75 Francis Street
Boston Ma. 02115
Cell: 413-854-5394
Office: 617-732-5269
Fax: 617-732-7558
Hi My first visit was very nice glad to see everyone back! Also, love the pizza area..BUT it should NOT be self serve in a Hospital all I could think of is C-DIFF /NoroVirus..just need to re-think this idea. The sandwich/Panini area is wonderful, but the silver metal piece covers the items…example: chicken salad, tuna salad. People who are visual or have language issues tend to point towards items. People were constantly asking what do you have available, and can you repeat it again or can I see it. Suggestion, maybe the silver metal cover can be replaced with a glass or plastic.
Greetings,
My name is Peter Lamb and I am the Director of Food Services. So many thanks for your input.
While I agree that cross contamination is always a concern, many of our customers prefer the convenience, choice and speed of self service at several of our concepts. We will be sure to mitigate wherever possible with the use of approved sanitary procedures.
Your observation on the salad bar riser masking the choices is understandable. We will experiment with a few different configurations.
Again, we are so very thankful for your observations / suggestions. Keep them coming and our service model will be better for it.
Sincerely,
Peter D. Lamb
Director of Food Services
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
75 Francis Street
Boston Ma. 02115
Cell: 413-854-5394
Office: 617-732-5269
Fax: 617-732-7558
Unfortunately, the night shift is still losing out–the grill was closed by 10:30PM tonight, the salad bar was being dismantled, and the hot entrees were cold by 10:30PM. BWH delivers more babies than any other hospital in New England, which means families that are hungry round-the-clock, not just between 6AM and whatever arbitrary time the café seems to close. I think we could do better by our night staff and our patents. What time should we tell our patients and families that the café closes, because it’s not at 11:30PM as advertised.
Greetings,
My name is Peter Lamb and I am the Director of Food Services. So many thanks for your input.
On Monday October 17th, we were completely overwhelmed with business. Instead of our normal 3,300 customers, we did almost 5,000 during the day. The interest factor in the Longwood Medical Area emptied out both Children’s and Dana Farber Cafe’s. Now, looking back over our first week of business, our current business is 68% more than a year ago at this time. We completely own the poor service that you experienced and are working feverishly to correct in a sustainable way.
Our Entree Station had been consolidated with the Deli Station at night giving the impression that the Entree Station was closed. We hear you on this and will be hiring another Server 7 days a week to ensure that the Entree Station Proper is staffed and that a hot meal will be available until 11:30 PM. Also, thank you for pointing out the early closure of the Salad Bar and the Grill. Our staffing has been challenging. We will work to get these loose ends covered in a sustainable way. The Grill and the Salad Bar will be up and running until 11:30 7 days a week.
Again, we are so very thankful for your observations / suggestions. Keep them coming and our service model will be better for it.
Sincerely,
Peter D. Lamb
Director of Food Services
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
75 Francis Street
Boston Ma. 02115
Cell: 413-854-5394
Office: 617-732-5269
Fax: 617-732-7558