Tag Archives: blizzard 2013

So Tuesday Was Kinda Wild

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We’ve gotten pretty good at handling natural disasters over the past few years.  While there is a great deal of planning that goes into such an event, we would never be able to pull it off without our staff.  Both full-timers and students made their way through the storm to keep the lights on and our customers fed.

  • Stephanie Andrasik
  • Nick August
  • Jessica Carlson ’16
  • Dandara Catete  ’15
  • Francine Denny
  • Hannah Fritz ’18
  • Krista Kaffen
  • Rick Kmietek
  • Robert McGiveron
  • Mike Mitchell
  • Callie Monroe ’17
  • Brian Rahrig
  • Hannah Rimm ’15
  • Shourya Sen ’15
  • Emma Singer ’15
  • Job Vasquez

And of course co-owner, fearless leader Karen Kaffen-Polascik (Ed was in an undisclosed bunker for security reasons)

These were the people who fed hundreds of you including over 700 just at dinner alone.  That’s 700 meals MADE TO ORDER.  We broke our record set during the dinner after Blizzard Nemo in 2013.

We are very thankful to them and to our customers for their patience and understanding during a very busy day and stressful couple of days.

-Karen & Ed

Here We Snow Again

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photo (1)

UPDATE TUESDAY 1:30PM

WesWings will remain OPEN all day until 8pm

While we usually close at 2pm and re-open at 5pm, we are staying open all afternoon serving lunch.  Dinner specials will begin at 5pm.

(special thanks to our student employees helping out to make this possible)

UPDATE TUESDAY 11:00AM

We’re getting done.  We will be opening at 11:30 AM.  

 

UPDATE TUESDAY 10:00AM

1 Hour Delay.  Our staff is slowly making it in and Wesleyan grounds is plowing and digging us out.  At his time we are planning for a 12 noon opening.  We will continue to update if we are able to open sooner or if there is a further delay.

 

 

UPDATE TUESDAY 8:00AM:

We are in contact with our staff and assessing conditions.  We will be updating at 10:00 am to let everyone know if we will open on time at 11:00 or if there will be a delay.

 

UPDATE MONDAY 11:00am:

Broad Street Books and Red & Black Cafe will be CLOSED Tuesday.  Depending on the severity of the storm there may also be a delayed opening on Wednesday.  WesWings is still planning on opening on Tuesday.  We will update if there are any changes or delays.

 

Hey juniors and seniors, remember how much fun we had two years ago?  So the latest is for a blizzard starting Monday night going until Tuesday night.  Couple of feet of snow, 50 mph winds blah blah blah.

We have been busy planning for this latest event.

As of Sunday 8pm:  Both locations plan to be open during the storm.  We will be meeting with the staff at Broad Street Books Monday to discuss contingency plans for the bookstore and cafe.  It is possible there will be either a delayed opening or closure on Tuesday.

While we are extremely committed to remaining open, the safety of our employees is our first priority. We will be updating this post throughout the storm over the next few days.  If you don’t already, please follow us on twitter for up to the minute updates

https://twitter.com/Weswings

https://twitter.com/RBCWes

Thank You!

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We’re not sure how everyone else feels, but at WesWings and the Red & Black Cafe, we’re getting a little tired of this whole extreme weather global climate change thing.  We are very proud of our staff at WesWings and the fact that we remained open throughout the entire event.

It was more difficult for the cafe to keep open due to the fact that we share the space with Broad St Books and cannot operate if they are unable provide staff.  (besides selling books is not that critical during a blizzard)

WesWings’ staff was incredible throughout.  On Friday, most of our full-time and student staff reported for dinner.  After dinner, our chef Bill Nardi, walked to the Middletown Inn (his weekend accommodations) in blizzard conditions as did many of our other employees.   photo (1) By Saturday morning as we all awoke to upwards of three feet of snow, Bill returned to WesWings to prepare for the day.  The grounds crew from Stonehenge cleared a path both in the parking lot and through the side yard to allow students to get to our front door.  With a pared down menu, we served between 500-600 students brunch.  It was the busiest brunch in the history of WesWings.  Over two hundred breakfast pails alone.

Dinner went down as the busiest as well with over 700 students fed during the three-hour period.  That’s an average of one customer every fifteen seconds, for three hours  MADE TO ORDER.  The line stretched to the parking lot the entire night.  While we may have made a few mistakes, everyone was patient and it was never anything so bad that a little cookie dough couldn’t fix.

By Sunday, Karen and Ed were both able to travel to Middletown to help.  The numbers were similar to Saturday.  Sunday brunch become the new number one, and dinner a close second to Saturday.photo (3)

The line still stretched out the door.

 

 

 

 

 

The crowds inside were pretty intense as well.photo (2)

 

 

 

 

 

While we owe so many of our employees a great deal of thanks, it was the Saturday crew that held it all together in our absence.

  • Bill Nardi, Chef/Hold the place together chief
  • Job Vasquez, sous chef/place falls apart without guy
  • Rick Kmietek, cook/fastest sandwich maker ever!
  • Michael Mitchell, cook/hardcore cook
  • Ralph Morton, dishwasher/lifesaver
  • Serena Berry, student worker/cashier extraordinaire
  • Vivian Deng, student worker/coordinator powerhouse
  • Emmie Finckel, student worker/marathon cashier
  • Jackie Freed, student worker/brunch cashier queen
  • Liza Goodstein, student worker/coordinator superstar
  • George Gore, student worker/chicken parm master
  • Elizabeth Litvitskiy, student worker/coordinating wonder
  • Reid Meador, Student worker/coordinator stalwart
  • Alex Papadogiannis, student worker/dominator of the fryolator
  • Tong Satayopas, student worker/super helper
  • Michaela Tolman, student worker/lost without her

Finally, members of the University deserve everyone’s gratitude.  For us, specifically,

  • Nate Peters, Associate Vice President for Finance
  • Joyce Topshe, Associate Vice President for Facilities (personally shovelled out the Red & Black Cafe)
  • Everyone at Stonehenge
  • Tennessee and Rebecca, two Red & Black customers who help shovel the front steps so we could open the building

We hope we didn’t miss anyone and if we did, please send us a comment and we’ll update accordingly.

Karen & Ed