Evergreen Café decorates to celebrate their grand opening. Madelyn Smith / Snapper
Olivia Heilemann
News Editor
The grand opening for Evergreen Café was last Wednesday, during the normal hours of operation, inviting students and president Dr. Wubah to explore the newly renovated establishment.
The new student-run café was designed by students in a contest that was held in the Spring 2022 semester, replacing the temporary Ville Perk Café. These contest winners include Georgea Hall, Alexandriya Lebo, Andrew Long, and John Reidinger. The successes of these four Millersville students have helped create a sustainable and comfortable environment for students to sit and do homework or meet up with friends for a bite to eat.
Jennifer Dohalick, the Student Manager of Evergreen, took the café into her own hands as she hopes to bring it to its full potential. Dohalick is in charge of making the schedule for the employees who are also Millersville students, ordering stock, and hiring new student workers. She also implements expectations in her staff to treat all customers as if they are a friend, making visitors feel welcome.
“I also want to create a calming space for students to try and get away from their dorms and the library,” says Dohalick. “A place where students can decompress between classes.”
The new café also has new menu and payment options, including meal swipes, which were not available at the previous Ville Perk Café. Meal swipes can be used for combination meals, similar to the ones at the Anchor, the Galley, Starbucks, and the Cove. Marauder Gold, Flex, cash, and credit are also available payment options.
The new menu options include more food options like breakfast sandwiches, toast, bagels, fruits, and chips. Drink options are the same but matcha and Tractor Juices are new additions. Due to recovery from the pandemic, not everything can be distributed right now. However, more attainable options for those with dietary restrictions are currently in the works.
“I know the winners of the Café competition wanted more vegan, gluten-free, vegetarian options,” Dohalick added. “Most of our food now is geared toward the vegetarian crowd, but I hope in the future to have more of a different variety of food.”
Lastly, Dohalick plans to add more greenery, relaxing music, and comfortable seating to help visitors feel right at home. She has spoken with Dean Tomljanovich of the Lombardo College of Business about a possible plant wall with live plants for the café to create a more lively and refreshing vibe.
The café has yet to go through many more changes as the semester progresses, but it already has much more than Ville Perk Café. For more information about the staff and hours of the café, visit the account @ville_evergreen_cafe on Instagram.
