Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
AMBIENCE Networks to Reopen, Expand Menu, Hours Networks, the restaurant on the first floor of the Student Center, will reopen September 10 under the same name and will offer a broader, market-based menu to meet more community needs while continuing to provide the food items and convenience Networks customers have come to expect. That announcement was made last week by Lawrence E. Maguire, director of housing and food services. "The Networks name will remain and we will implement a two-tier menu approach to achieve a broad-based community service," Mr. Maguire said. "We plan to develop Networks to provide some of the ambience and relaxation enjoyed in the old F&T [a restaurant that was a fixture in Kendall Square until a few years ago] and even Waltons [a restaurant in a Massachusetts Avenue building near the student center that burned down in the 1960s]. Mr. Maguire said there have often been comments from the community about the need for a diner "or an F&T type place where everyone feels at ease and can relax." He said that the space configuration of Networks and the planned menu "allow us to maintain current Networks offerings for those who have come to enjoy them and to begin a new self-service style. Students and staff will enjoy longer and late-night hours of operation, market-sensitive prices in a much-expanded menu, and brand-name pizza. Networks will offer booth and table service plus take out," Mr. Maguire said. "Networks, like all food services, needs to support itself," he continued, "and to do this it must offer more that the community wants to buy. We think the menu and atmosphere mix will be enjoyed by a large community base, including staff and students, thus generating the kind of money necessary to keep Networks open." Food offerings must match community desires, Mr. Maguire said. The late-night student and staff market also is one Networks will pursue using student and community input and staff marketing as the year progresses, he said. MIT is beginning a new five-year profit-and-loss-based food service contract with ARA Services. The key to success, Mr. Maguire said, "is in sensitive and responsive marketing to the whole MIT community and finding out what it really wants and needs regarding food services, and then delivering the goods."