“Where’s the IT guy when I need him?” is a frequent lament among small business owners. Whiz-Tech Café will look to unburden entrepreneurs of their IT frustrations when doors to the tech café open downtown at 1629 Locust St., later this month in the spot formerly occupied by Simply Fondue.
The 6,000-square?foot facility will offer tech services such as computer repair, graphic design, web design, copying and facsimile. Whiz-Tech Café will also offer hourly rental of computers outfitted with all the must-have software, teleconference, meeting rooms and, when you need to take a break, a separate room for a game of Xbox.
“A lot of people in St. Louis are small business owners that don’t have a facility of their own. We wanted to provide a place for organizations to conduct business, but we also want to be a social place,” explained Benjamin Griebel, assistant food service manager at Whiz-Tech.
You don’t have to be a whiz to know that food and drink equals social, so Whiz-Tech has incorporated a café into the equation. The café offers coffee drinks, teas, fresh juices, smoothies, shakes and ices. The menu also includes baked breakfast goods, a selection of fresh salads, soups, sandwiches, wraps, pizzas and an assortment of snack fare like soft pretzels, nachos, frozen yogurt and parfaits. “It’s simpler food done using premium ingredients and made fresh every day,” summed Griebel. The food is prepared by Andy Lotz, a former chef at the Cardinal Club Lounge at the old Busch Stadium and commissary chef for the St. Louis Blues.
Beginning Dec. 17, Whiz-Tech Café will be open daily 6:30 a.m. to midnight, though the kitchen will close at 9 p.m. Stop in Jan. 7 for the grand opening and you could walk away not just with a cup of joe, but also a techie attendance prize like an iPad.
UPDATE: Whiz-Tech Café assistant food service manager Benjamin Griebel has confirmed that chef Andy Lotz has been replaced by Andrew McLendon, former kitchen manager at Sassafras at the Missouri Botanical Garden and a former cook at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. “This last-minute change will have very little impact on our menu, which will remain gourmet café Americana,” wrote Griebel in an email. Lotz told Sauce, “I don’t have anything bad to say about [Griebel and the owners of Whiz-Tech], and I wish them well in their new venture.”
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2010.