- Poor management by the Student Cafeterias
The Student Cafeterias’ management of Zenith was amateurish, according to a former employee and several of the pub’s customers.
På norsk;)
FOTO: Stéphane Lelarge
- You can say that if the statistics in last week’s copy of Universitas are correct, then something is wrong if the Student Cafeterias have not followed up on this. You cannot run at that kind of loss without taking action, says Jan Erik Skretteberg, Kringsjå resident and former employee at Zenith.
Last week Universitas wrote about the Foundation for Student Life in Oslo’s (SiO) proposal to shut down Zenith, the pub at Kringsjå Student Village. Since it started business in 2005, the pub has been running at an ever-increasing loss, and has now lost over 1,1 million kroner in total.
Skretteberg resigned on the 1st of May of this year. In his resignation, he pointed to a lack of follow-ups of the café and its employees from SiO. He wrote: «No shift schedules have been set up, the situation surrounding ordering supplies has been chaotic and the services on offer to the customers have been unstable». Skretteberg mentions that there were frequent changes in management and insufficient follow-ups.
- Nobody said anything about the deficit to us. Obviously no warning signals have been going off.
- Amateurish management
A petition to save the pub with 200 signatures from residents at Kringsjå Student Village was handed in at the Welfare Council’s meeting on September 1st. One of those fighting to save Zenith, Kim Michael G.G. Thon, thinks that SiO has run Zenith in a sloppy way from day one, and that they have never made a proper attempt to run the place in a decent way.
- Nobody else in this business would be so amateurish. People would be fired on the spot, he says.
He points out that the deficit at Zenith exceeds wage costs, and that it is shockingly large for a business that does not have to pay rent.
- It looks like they have either run the place into the ground intentionally in order to provoke the closure, or the management is so incompetent that they should find something else to do, says Thon.
He points out that SiO has other plans for the space. In last week’s edition of Universitas, it emerged that SiO wishes to turn the café into a Student Housing reception area.
- A serious allegation
Leader of the General Board of SiO, Egil Heinert, is upset to hear about the allegation of intentional mismanagement.
- Considering the millions of kroner and other resources that we have put into running the place, and the millions we have lost, this is a very serious allegation. This is not the way that SiO does business, he says.
Managing Director of the Student Cafeterias, Alain Clérambault, also reacts to the allegation:
- It surprises me that someone would say that. We have run Zenith in a proper way. Anything else would be unthinkable for us, he says.
Clérambault thinks that the Student Cafeterias have done all they can.
- Doesn’t Zenith have potential when there are 200 residents in Kringsjå Student Village?
- We firmly believe that it does not, otherwise we would not suggest shutting the café down. Our recommendation is that it should close, says Clérambault.
The General Board of SiO will decide whether the pub will be shut down at their board meeting on Wednesday the 10th of September.
