(Photo by: Aubrey May)

A less-crowded place to study with high-quality food service? Sign me up! Located in the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Café Tempo could be your new favorite restaurant.

Open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday- Friday. Alongside the Food Court and Encore! Espresso, Café Tempo offers a healthier option with a variety of choices, including turkey sandwiches, the soup of the day, and broccoli mac and cheese. They also offer a cure for your sweet tooth with their European-style cheesecake, made by a local vendor. Although it wasn’t always like this, the café has only recently reopened since COVID-19.

During the pandemic, the campus closed and went solely online, with some hybrid exceptions. The café had to close face-to-face contact with people, but still offered orders online. The food for the online orders was provided by the COM building, while the food is usually made in-house.

Now, the reopening of Café Tempo in August has brought in some new faces, but it has yet to go back to normal. There is still a 25% drop in customers due to the pandemic. Classes are offered more online, so students aren’t on campus like they were before.

“It’s not going to be like it was,” Mike Loprete, director of dining services for JCCC said. “But it’s a new normal.”.

As they adapt to the new normal, Loprete and his staff still find ways to improve services on and off campus. They plan to add more options to the menu in the upcoming months, like potentially a breakfast option, and renovate the furniture inside the café.

The café also offers catering services, often to other buildings on campus and operations around Overland Park. They even host private events often, so keep an eye out for when the café might be closed for the day.

After you finish your meal, take a gander at the art exhibit right across the hallway. The perfect meal and a show, right after class.