Restaurants weren’t siphoning off customers from the foodservices of University of Vermont Medical Center, a rare situation in the noncommercial sector. That’s why Director of Nutrition Services Diane Imrie decided to open one last week.
The number of customers handled by the dining services of UVM Medical has more than doubled in the last seven years, pushing guest counts beyond capacity at lunchtime within the facility’s three on-campus dining locations.
The solution was the Atrium Garden, the health-oriented onsite restaurant that opened Sept. 16. The new option is run by dining services and is intended to provide a restaurant choice where virtually none existed beforehand.
“We felt that this new location would be beneficial for all of our patients and families.” Imrie said. “I can’t imagine that it was enjoyable for them when it was so full and they couldn’t get a seat in our other locations.”
She expects the heavy traffic to continue, noting that most of it comes from the University of Vermont and the lack of competition in the area. “The walk downtown is about 15 minutes, and the only other restaurant on the block is Indian-themed and open for dinner only,” she explains. “There’s also a convenience store that has a sandwich bar and the restaurants at UVM across the way, but none of them have sit-down components, I believe.”
The Atrium Garden intends to draw the medical center’s patients, visitors and staff with a menu of local and organic options offered at what Imrie says are reasonable prices, the same approach taken in UVM Medical’s three other dining outlets. The Atrium Garden’s meat, eggs and dairy products are sourced locally, and most of its breads are baked in-house.
Guests can order such items as an entrée-sized southwestern salad for $6.75—the menu’s highest priced item—or house-made organic tomato soup at $2.95. Small plates are also available.
In November, the restaurant will launch an app that enables guests to pre-order food and pick it up at a takeout window, which will also service walk-up patrons. “If guests don’t want to come into the restaurant, they won’t have to,” said Imrie “I think both options will attract a different crowd.”
Imrie said she and her staff are taking measures to minimize waste, which is why certain foods are prepped cold, items are cooked-to-order, and every component of a dish will be assessed to decrease waste. “For example if we buy chicken, the bones are going into stock, the plastic wrap is either being recycled or trashed, and the cardboard boxes will be recycled,” she explained.
Imrie said her staff was excited about creating the restaurant from scratch. “It’s a rare opportunity to walk into a brand new facility with band new equipment, an all-stainless steel kitchen, and you’re able to contribute ideas before the place opens,” she said.
The 100-seat Atrium Garden is open Monday through Friday from 7:30am to 4pm, but the lounge and the rest of the dining room will remain open until 9pm. “We’ll operate it that way for a little while, and if there’s no issue with having that space open, we might expand the hours to the weekend.”
It will also serve as a patient and family waiting space with Wi-Fi, plug-ins for phone chargers, and a lending library for cook and gardening books. “There’s also a path we call the ‘winding garden path,’ which winds through the restaurant and out onto the rooftop garden,” Imrie adds.
Imrie wants guests to know that nutrition and healthy food is a part of their healing and health. “If we can role model that and be teachers,” she said, “that’s our place in the community. I want this restaurant to be an emblem for that.”