No more soggy, cellophane-wrapped hamburgers for Carroll Community College students. After years of relying on vending machines, the college finally has a real cafeteria.
"It had always been envisioned that we would have some type of food service at the college," said Terry Bowen, director of Administrative Support Services at the 2,100-student college. "It was just a matter of space."
That came when the college's new Random House Learning Resources Center (named for the publishing company after it donated $250,000 to the college's foundation) opened in October 1997. The center gave the college room for a new bookstore location, and the cafeteria is now in the bookstore's old spot.
The Bulldog Cafe, named after the school mascot, is especially welcome news because there aren't many restaurants nearby.
"People would have to go into Westminster, and that's 15 minutes in and 15 minutes out, depending on where you went," said Diana Scott, a spokeswoman for the college. "This is very convenient."
The cafeteria, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, is run by Baltimore-based Service 1st Vending Inc.
The college collects $8,000 a month in rent from Service 1st, and 2 percent of its gross revenue, an amount that will go up to about 12 percent in the last year of the 7-year contract, Bowen said.
"I've never seen any school cafeteria like it -- most of the food seems healthy," said Michelle Mullinax, a Liberty High School graduate studying to be an English teacher. "I still usually bring my lunch because the cafeteria is kind of expensive."
Cafeteria manager Steve Katz disagrees.
"College kids might think it's expensive because they don't have a lot of money," he said. "But I don't know where you can get a turkey club for under $3 anywhere."
The Bulldog Cafe serves them for $2.95. A pizza slice goes for $1.50, a tossed salad is $2 and grilled BBQ chicken is $2.75. For breakfast, toast with butter costs 60 cents and an egg sandwich is a dollar.
Stacey Lichtenthal said she used to either get popcorn out of the vending machine or else "I really didn't eat." She recently had breakfast and lunch at the cafe.
"The people there are friendly," said Lichtenthal, who is studying to be a nuclear medicine technician. "It looks clean."
For several years, Maggie's Restaurant on Green Street brought in sandwiches. They were good, Bowen said, but they were offered only for a few hours a day. Students and staff members who couldn't get a sandwich were left to rely on vending machines.
"It was gross. There were cellophane-wrapped burgers that you could pop in the microwave," Bowen said. "But I never took that chance -- yuck."
The cafe, which opened in late February, is open from 7: 30 a.m. to 6: 30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with limited hours on Friday when there are no classes. College officials and Service 1st are hoping people who take night courses will eat at the cafe before class instead of stopping off at fast-food chains.
Business has been good, Katz said, and he expects it will grow as more people hear about it and begin to rely on the service.
"Breakfast [business] is getting better but it's not great yet," he said. "I think we're going to do quite well here."