John Purdue Room

History of the John Purdue Room

The story of the first “group feeding” class is noteworthy. President Stone stated that the department could offer a course as long as it did not cost the University “one cent.” From 1918 until 1923, two lunches a week were served with a student as manager. The students were in charge of planning and executing the meal, and were “required” to sell forty tickets at forty cents each. During that time, not one student operated at a loss, fulfilling President Stone’s requirement of not costing one cent. The bills were paid in cash, and a single entry bookkeeping procedure was used to keep track of revenues and expenses.

The scope of the “group feeding” class has changed greatly over the years. Today, the John Purdue Room serves lunch five days a week from 11:30 to 1:00 PM and dinner four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, from 5:30 to 7:30. The food is prepared and served by the students each day under the watchful eye of a chef instructor, teaching assistants, and a professor. The menu itself is a teaching tool in that it is designed to be appealing to guests while teaching the students different cooking and service techniques.

The John Purdue Room moved into Marriott Hall in the spring of 2012. It had been located in Stone Hall for decades.

And yes, we must still honor President Stone’s mandate not to cost the University “one cent” and one of the many reasons we count on your patronage to help the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management teach our students to be future global leaders in the hospitality and tourism industry!

Check out what the individual classes are doing at their promotional pages:

HTM 291L: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Purdue-Room-291-Lab/354662677891624
HTM 492: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Purdue-Room-492-Lab/141805729271840?sk=info

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