Before Charles Phan grew to be one of San Francisco’s hottest and most renowned chefs, he was an ambitious young student studying architecture at UC Berkeley. While there, Phan would get hungry and as a result, spent a lot of time time snacking at the campus’s Wurster Hall. As many students are prone to doing, Phan often wondered why the food wasn’t of a higher quality more appropriate to the tuition costs that students burn into the schools. Because of this, Phan is is giving back, and plans to take over Wurster by opening up his own café there.
Wurster plans to serve his trademark international and organic foods, but at affordable prices. He wants to make sure students get fed within reasonable costs: “I am 99 percent sure, not 100 percent sure,” he says, “You walk up, you get some food. It’s affordable. It’s fast. My goal is to take care of the students.”
Robert Lalanne, the vice-chancellor of real estate at Berkeley, has been trying to tap Phan to take over the café for a few months. Though the talks are still early, both men feels like a deal should be reached for Phan to take over the café very soon.
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