By Zainab Ummie Sillah
Is this the end of the Flaming Eggplant Café, or a new beginning?
A press release was sent out by Kayla Mahnke on Thursday, Feb. 8, discussing the Eggplant’s budget crisis and announcing the closure of the café. That same day, the café had its busiest day of the entire quarter. Students and faculty shared memories over a bite in the eatery.
Rumors of the café’s closure first circulated in December of 2018, however, the issues that are prompting the closure date back a decade ago. Evergreen has had a decline in student enrollment since 2008. Lower enrollment means a decrease in the student fees normally paid in tuition costs, which feeds Student Activities annual budget, including funding for the Eggplant.
“Student Activities has always been a strong supporter of the Flaming Eggplant,” Mahnke reflects on the relationship between Student Activities and the café. “We have advocated for the Flaming Eggplant for the past ten years. What is happening right now does not change the relationship between Student Activities and The Flaming Eggplant. We are going to continue to support The Flaming Eggplant through this process of transformation.”
The Flaming Eggplant recently celebrated its tenth anniversary Oct. 11, 2018. The café began with a volunteer based student group serving quality food to the Evergreen community on Red Square. With aid from the office of Residential and Dining Services, the student group expanded their business model to a food truck. A one-time student fee was used to purchase the 900 square foot space in which the Eggplant exists today. “What students want and expect has changed over the past ten years,” says Jeanette Smith, Director of Student Activities. “The Flaming Eggplant just celebrated its golden birthday. Going into its eleventh year of operation, we can expect many changes and new implementations to the café.”
Since the enrollment decline, Student Activities has been making necessary cuts and adjustments to sustain programs. In this period of time, the Flaming Eggplant has accrued a debt of $155,000.
More than half of the debt was accrued over the past three years due to external pressures the café has no control over. The raised minimum wage, added benefits, resources, and products, along with student enrollment decline has exacerbated the gap. The café currently operates on a loss of $1,200 per week. “This issue with the Eggplant has been going on for so long,” Kayla Mahnke, the Eggplant’s Advisor, states. “Student Activities felt they cannot keep trying to maneuver the situation while cutting corners in other areas. Something has to be done at this point to correct this debt and move into a positive trajectory.”
In reaction to declining profits, managerial aspects of the café are at an incline. Last January, Wendy Endress, Vice Provost of Student Activities, assigned Jeanette Smith, Kayla Mahnke, and Andy Corn to draft a course correction plan. The three have worked intimately with the collective in formulating the Fiscal Health and Sustainability Proposal for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
Mahnke brought the proposal to the collective for discussion during the first week of December. Members of the collective reached a consensus by Dec. 10 on how to address its budget crisis and implement long-term program improvements. A formal letter released on Jan.7, 2019, outlined the decisions as follows:
1. Reducing café operations from 5 days to 4 days per week for Winter Quarter 2019.
2. Continuing current efforts to increase pricing and kitchen efficiencies.
3. Forming a working group of students, staff, and faculty dedicated to developing a new model for the program with stronger campus partnerships and fiscal responsibility.
4. Focusing academic objectives of the current collective towards the working group objectives.
The collective formed a Disappearing Task Force following the letter. Members met weekly to discuss menu development, community outreach, the formation of a Board of Advisors, and learning opportunities to be offered as curriculum in future courses. The group acts as a liaison between Student Activities and the larger collective, working on a course correction outline that suits the needs of the collective while reforming its operational model.
The café plans to pause all operations on Friday, March 22. A course correction plan is set to unroll this spring continuing into fall. A response to the course correction proposal states, “The work the collective has put in over the last year has had some positive momentum toward fiscal sustainability.” The Flaming Eggplant hopes to reopen in fall of 2019.
“When they reopen in the fall, I think you are going to see a program that’s more responsive to the current population while still upholding those values around food justice and community. We’re going to see a stronger business and governance model that better serves our students and faculty. Part of [Student Activities’] role is to [aid the collective in] processing through grief, because this is a loss.”
As the quarter comes to an end, current collective members reflect on their work at the Flaming Eggplant Café thus far. Mel, an Eggplant collective member says, “working with the Eggplant has enriched my time at Evergreen immensely, and working in a collective has taught me skills I would not have been able to learn at a ‘regular’ job.” When asked why they value the café, they explained, “The Eggplant is indispensable to Evergreen students, and I hope that it can continue to function as a collective and serve the Evergreen community as well.”
The Journal will have more news to come on this story as it develops.
Zainab Sillah is a collective member of The Flaming Eggplant and a staff writer for the Journal.
