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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK With two shiny new employee housing units going up, the Holding family decided that employees at Sun Valley Resort needed a cafeteria to match. It’s no small thing. The Place is Sun Valley Resort’s busiest restaurant, serving 500 breakfasts, lunches and dinners a day and up to 800 meals a day during peak times when all employees are working. In contrast, the nearby Ram Restaurant may serve a hundred dinners an evening and the Village Station between 300 and 400 meals a day, said Jim Snyder, the resort’s director of food and beverage.
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The salad bar recently featured three salad options, including a spinach salad with tomato, cucumber, pickled red onion and bacon.
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The resort renovated The Place in fourth months, giving it a shiny new look on par with its 20 mountain and village restaurants. There’s a pizza station, salad bar and grab-and-go items behind glass-enclosed cases. And a cafeteria line for hot breakfasts, lunches and dinners. On Friday, for instance, the menu featured Jamaican Sweet and Sour Chicken served with Jasmine Rice and a drink for $3. A Moroccan Beef Stew served with Cous Cous and a drink cost the same. Cereal with milk or oatmeal with toppings costs $1. A big slice of pizza cost $1.50, while a pizza with a side dish and drink cost $3. Also available: a hot Reuben sandwich for $2, kale and quinoa, grilled chicken, chicken strips, chili dog and a salad bar boasting black bean and corn salad with green chile vinaigrette, in addition to a couple other salad options.
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The color orange dominates the new Place.
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The Place also serves up the popular Chicken Piccata from its Village Station kitchen and cheeseburgers that Snyder says rival any burger in Sun Valley’s other restaurants. The cafeteria is designed especially for employees who live in the dorms and don’t have kitchens of their own. But employees who live off campus also frequent the café. The bad news: The Place isn’t open to the public. The new Place has, however, been designed as a gathering place for Sun Valley employees.
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Employees have an array of options.
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Nine more seats have been added inside, bringing the total capacity to 102. There’s additional seating outside during summer. Employees can also take their meals back to the dorm or to their office. And new is a community table dominating the middle. It’s designed for resort managers with room for other employees to join them and ask questions. “So far, employees are over the moon about the new cafeteria,” said Snyder. “We’re very proud of it.”
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