Newsletter No. 51

CUHKNEWSLETTER The lunchtime crowds at the BFC Student Canteen The long queue at the BFC Snack Bar The BFC Coffee Shop is always full at lunchtime, even though only light meals and beverages are served there. The three characters - 文怡閣 — which mark the Staff Common Room of United College came from the hand of Dr. T. C. Cheng, a former College Head. The rooms were furnished to become a staff common room in 1977 at the suggestion of Dr. F. C. Chen. D i n i ng Facilities on Campus Catering Outlet No. of Average Utility Rate (%) 1 Seats Lunch 2 Dinner 3 Central BFC Coffee Shop BFC Snack Bar BFC Student Canteen 1,061 76.62 32.62 BFC Staff Canteen 320 112.11 51.57 Postgraduate Hall Canteen 206 21.43 10.86 Basic Med. Sc. Bldg. Canteen 80 169.07 _ Staff Common Room, University Guesthouse 100 56.55 11.72 Chung Chi Student Canteen 376 45.55 28.11 Staff Social Club Canteen 178 50.83 27.35 New Asia Student Canteen 322 37.58 31.01 Staff Canteen 138 78.18 — Yun Chi Hsien 4 80 N.A. N.A. United Student Canteen 320 48.31 32.66 Staff Canteen 120 70.55 - Wen Yi Ge 4 50 N.A. N.A. Shaw Student Canteen 228 20.63 22.00 Staff Canteen 134 50.28 7.82 Total 3,714 Survey period: 25th to 29th October 1993 Notes 1 Calculation ： average number of users ÷ designed capacity x 100 2 Lunch period ： 12.00 noon - 2.00 p.m. 3 Dinner period ： 6.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. 4 Survey does not cover Yun Chi Hsien and Wen Yi Ge. The former can accommodate up to 90 guests after extension project ； the latter can accommodate 80 guests when buffet lunch is served. campus accommodation in the main; those who keep rooms in the hostels invariably take their meals in the canteens as self-catering is positively discouraged. Those who do not have classes around lunch time tend also not to patronize the canteens, thus helping to ease the strain. Ac c o r d i ng to statistics taken by the Buildings Office last October, an average of 1,125 (28%) staff members and 4,521 (39%) students took lunch regularly on campus. The most popular lunch spots are the four outlets in the Benjamin Franklin Centre: the Student Canteen, the Staff Canteen, the Coffee Shop and the Snack Bar. Together they provide lunch for over 2,000 staff and students every day, and the Staff Canteen has a utility rate of 112 per cent. But then in terms of utility the canteen at the Basic Medical Sciences Building tops them all: on an average day, it caters to 69 per cent more lunch customers than its maximum capacity allows! On the other hand, the student canteen at Shaw College, at a daily average of 20 per cent, is the least utilized per capacity among the catering outlets. However, in terms of headcount, the outlet which caters to the smallest number of lunch guests is the United College Staff Common Room — Wen Y i Ge, where tea, coffee and other beverages are served throughout the week but lunch only on Fridays, when academics, administrators and their guests assemble f or the week ly College Lunch - the maximum seating for this meal is 50 or 80, depending on the type of food featured. The Caterers Catering staff serving the University Staff Common Room are University employees; the kitchen of Yun Chi Hsien at New Asia is run by the college's minor staff; the remaining 15 outlets are operated by MO.51 FEBRUARY 1994 7