Saturday, November 26, 2011

Yes we canteen

- Believing in entrepreneurship and diversity, two Learning Lab students took charge of one of the major canteens of the University of Amsterdam. Inviting local businesses and restaurants to offer their products, YES WE CANTEEN showed an alternative to the current Dutch one-caterer-one-choice approach.

Things just don't change. That is the feeling you can get when studying at a Dutch university. The same big lecture halls, the same old PowerPoint presentations teachers flip through every year and during lunch break: the same food that some major university caterer puts on your plate.
Maaike Reuver and Charlotte van Leeuwen, both participants in the Learning Lab, broke this cycle. Creating YES WE CANTEEN, these two students took charge of one of the major canteens of the University of Amsterdam giving local entrepreneurs the chance to offer their products.
With more than 700 visitors on a daily basis, YES WE CANTEEN was running throughout last week. This attracted not only curious students but also business representatives (Rabobank) and organizations like ACE sharing the vision of entrepreneurship and diversity.
Originally, YES WE CANTEEN's catering concept was inspired by food courts as they are popular at Asian and American universities.  This stands in stark contrast to the current one-caterer-one-choice approach adopted by most Dutch universities.

Source: ScienceGuide