The Sagehen Café is contemplating the development of a “happy hour” program, an idea that reportedly arose from a discussion among students in the café.
There is no specific proposal in place, and a representative of the Sagehen Café declined to comment on it or make any plans public until after winter break.
Neil Gerard said that he did not know how likely it is that a happy hour will be instituted since there is no proposal on the table yet. However, he said, “We have been looking for ways to make that a more vibrant place, especially in the evenings. We just need to be consistent with college policy and what we view as our mission.”
Gerard expressed interest in “promoting the use of the Sagehen Café, especially among students. We think it’s an under-utilized resource, especially for dinners and the weekends.”
He added there had been talk of incorporating different types of programs in the restaurant, such as dinner specials and two-for-ones.
In the event that a happy hour promotion were initiated, the current payment policies at the Sagehen Café would apply. Currently, students cannot pay for alcohol with Board Plus (“Flex”), but they can use Claremont Cash.
Gerard added that the café would not do any promotion for drinks without food, meaning that Flex could be used for food, but never alcohol.
Gerard said he was not sure “happy hour” would be a good name if something of the sort was developed.
“You think about a bar having a happy hour with dollar beers and all of those other things that probably are not consistent with what we want.”
Rather than having a program that “promoted alcohol for the purpose of promoting alcohol,” Gerard suggested that there are various possibilities for an evening activity promoting “that real life setting that isn’t free beer and all of that that makes up a lot of our social scene, but is involved with food, wine, and beer in a quieter setting.”
ASPC Senate President Stephanie Almeida PO ’11 also pointed out the café’s potential.
“An event at a venue like the Sagehen Café could, I think, benefit students by providing a more ‘adult’ model for alcohol consumption on campus,” she said.
Gerard speculated that the on-campus community would be the target market if a ”happy hour” came to pass.
“I would love to see students, faculty, and staff kind of in combination as the way this actually plays out,” Gerard added.
“Holding something at the Sagehen Café would provide another opportunity for low key, casual, social drinking, rather than going out to get drunk,” Susan Glass PO ’11 said. “What could be wrong with that?”
