Chaos at staff canteen after good review

It started off well: An employee from Le Cannibale (the University of Copenahgen UCPH administrative staff canteen) told one of our Danish section reporters that they were really happy with the nice review: Their chefs make a point of preparing everything themselves, with fresh ingredients, so that their work is appreciated means a lot to them.

In the original article, first published on our Danish-language sister site Uniavisen.dk, the reviewer had praised the canteen. Troubles is, he forgot to mention that the canteen and its wondrous culinary contents were for staff only (the article has been amended since then).

Students started turning up in great numbers, and Head of Retail at UCPH, Peter Lintrup, had to step in.

Hungry, grumpy staff complained

»As co-responsible for the contract with the canteen in Nørregade 10, I am of course pleased that the quality is high and the price affordable, as is noted in your canteen review. The article has, however, caused huge problems for the canteen and admin staff,« Peter Lintrup writes in an e-mail.

»So many students have turned up in the wake of the article, that everything was sold out before the staff had lunch. Many have, for this reason, complained,«

Peter Lintrup points out that Le Cannibale is subsidised in accordance with rules in place for staff canteens, and that it is a breach of rules if UCPH sells food to anybody else. »Today [21/11] the canteen staff had to have someone turn students away. This is a waste of everybody’s time – including the students, who turned up believing that they could use the canteen,« he writes.

Reviewer: Make better food – problem solved

Nicklas Freisleben Lund, the Danish section reporter who wrote the positive review of Le Cannibale, defends his story.

»Of course the idea wasn’t to deprive UCPH’s hard-working staff of their well-deserved lunch, but to draw attention to the differences in quality between theirs and the student canteens,« says Nicklas Freisleben Lund. He thinks that the solution would be to bring the remaining UCPH canteens up to Le Cannibale’s standard.

»The UCPH staff should, of course, eat well, but so should the students. If standards were improved throughout the university, no one would see the need to sneak into Le Cannibale.«

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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