Café Brava and The Grind to remain closed pending new licensees

By Alanna O’Shea | Oct 29 2014

Two popular eateries in UCD have recently ceased trading on campus. Cafe Brava Ltd. has closed both Cafe Brava and the sandwich bar The Grind in the old Student Centre. The company resigned their license for the unit with UCD a few months ago, citing economic issues.Cafe Brava Ltd. also run several other services on campus, including the Poolside Cafe and the food service within the Clubhouse bar. Both the Poolside Cafe and the Clubhouse Bar are reportedly fiscally healthy and will remain open. The increasing amounts of cafes and restaurants on campus seems to have affected their business; it is thought that Cafe Brava was facing competition after the opening of their own Poolside Cafe, the SU Fresher’s Shop and the new Pi restaurant in the science block.The Student Centre management team are currently exploring options for a replacement to Cafe Brava which should be in place soon. A notice was issued on the UCD e-procurement website about the availability of the locations, the deadline for which was the 3rd of October. The Student Centre management team will appoint a panel to review the requests and report back to the management committee. These panels usually consist of representatives for UCD, the Student Centre and a student representative. The management team hope to have something in place in the coming months.