MCC Welcomes New Food Offering to College’s Bedford Campus

After the COVID-19 pandemic paused on-campus food services in the Spring of 2020, Middlesex Community College is welcoming a new offering to students on the Bedford Campus. Created by Apple Spice of Greater Boston – a box lunch delivery and catering company – Take a Break Café provides quick and healthy food for Middlesex students and employees.

“Middlesex is continuing to bring back on-campus services and resources, including food offerings to both campus cafeterias,” said Patrick Cook, MCC’s Vice President of Administration. “Take a Break Café provides a space for students and employees to come together to share a meal, study, or enjoy time on the Bedford campus. We are excited to collaborate with a local business and restore the vibrancy of MCC’s campus environment.”

Working with MCC’s Administration and Facilities offices has helped get the space up and running for the café. The support of the Middlesex team has “made this a partnership,” according to Amy Zaslow, Owner of Take a Break Café.

“We created the company to meet the needs of the MCC community,” Zaslow said. “We are more than a place to get food and hope for it to be a gathering place where people come to relax.”

Take a Break Café is also interested in hiring Middlesex students and alumni. An MCC Culinary Arts student will soon be managing business throughout the semester. The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to practice a range of skills they learn in their classes, from cooking to running a business.

“MCC students and alumni are in the perfect position to help us understand and respond to the needs of the MCC community,” Zaslow said. “We are also able to provide hands-on training to the people working for us in more than just food preparation. Take a Break Café is a whole, small business and we need to do things like marketing, finance, product pricing and inventory.”

MCC also offers food from The Coffee Mill on the Lowell Campus from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Located in the college’s Campus Center, the Bedford café is open for all MCC Bedford campus visitors from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

So far, the partnership has been a success, according to Zaslow.

“Everyone has been extremely welcoming,” she said. “Customers’ eyes light up when they see we are open.”