Harvard will permanently close four University Dining Services facilities and lay off the employees at each location, according to Harvard Campus Services spokesperson Michael D. Conner.
The four operations impacted include the Heights restaurant in Smith Campus Center, CGIS Café in the Center for Government and International Studies, the Observatory Cart, and the Culinary Support Group kitchen. The CSG kitchen serves as the central kitchen for HUDS, providing the various soups, sauces, salads, and pastas used across all of Harvard’s dining halls.
The announcement entails the layoff of 17 workers at the CSG kitchen, a point of contention for many HUDS workers, some of whom are already facing potential layoffs after Executive Vice President Katherine N. Lapp announced last month that the University would stop compensating contracted workers whose work had been idled by the pandemic.