The new UniCamillus canteen is now open. Located in the UniHall building of the Rome campus at Via di Sant’Alessandro, the new space offers students more opportunities to enjoy their time at university. A new café (UniCafé)—in addition to the one in the Rector’s Office building, which is still in operation—and a canteen (UniCuisine) have been added, offering hot and cold dishes to suit all tastes.
“We try to offer the best value for money to the students and staff of the University”, explains Nicola, the canteen manager. He is well aware that in an international university like UniCamillus, dietary requirements are not only linked to personal taste, but also to ethical, religious or even health constraints, so the UniCafé and UniCuisine staff have worked out special solutions to meet everyone’s needs. “We were aware of the multicultural context in which we had to work,” adds Nicola, “but it is absolutely not a problem for us. On the contrary, it is now business as usual for those working in the food and beverage industry. We have a monthly plan that we use on a daily basis to always offer a wider range of dishes, for example for people who cannot or do not want to eat certain types of meat, or who are allergic or intolerant to certain ingredients”.
Inclusiveness and a welcoming attitude towards the needs of all, which is one of the cornerstones of the UniCamillus mission, are therefore fully embodied in the canteen service that our University now offers to its academic community.
At the moment, there are about a hundred seats available in a 550-square-metre hall, including a café and canteen, as well as a small private room at the University’s disposal. In the coming weeks, however, marquees will be installed in the garden in front of the hall (an additional 180 square metres), with more outdoor seating to be used mainly during the summer season, but also on colder days in autumn and winter, as the structures can be closed and heated if necessary.
“We are expecting a capacity of more than 200 seats“, continues Nicola, who points out that all the staff working in the canteen are more than used to dealing with large numbers of customers, thanks to their experience in restaurants and cafés in the centre of Rome.
The icing on the cake of this new service at UniCamillus is the pizza corner: “We have an oven for this product, which is always a great success in all its variations. Here, too, we will always take the utmost care to meet the ethical, religious or health requirements of every person we serve”.
