The Cordova daily times., 1919-01-16
CAFETERIA AT
ANCHORAGE IS
CREATSUCCESS
Especial to Daily Times.D

ard butter and coffee, 30 cents Such
meal for such figure is served in
this day of post.bcllum prices. not on
the plains OF cattle country nor on
the farms of an intensely cultivated
agricultural region. but in the new
and distant reaches OF Uncle Sans
Alaskan domain. 1t is offered in wh2t
Is believed to be the first cafeteria
ever conducted cXclu3;vcly for rail
read construction workers-thc cafe
tC,ia just established by the Alaskan
! Engineering commission in the An
| ch2ragc terminal yards of the govern
ncnt railroad.
At the beginning in 1915 of con
st.Wction work on the railroad.
mess hall for employees was opened at
! Anchorage. and. subsequently, mcsse8
we're started AMI maintained at all
ether construction places. The mess
! hall in Anchorage continues IN opera
/ ton. IT serves meals for meal tickets,
/ which cost - cents each and which,
/ in lots of twcnty-onc. are bound in
/ lCCk form. To supply the mc"scs,
say. which buys and issGc5 la.gc
| quantities of mC2,, groceries and
| oIhcr sorts of cdiblcs The Anchor
age mess, at stated hour3 daily,
| serves three worry substantial meals
upon tables nankcd By benches, each
seating ten persons. There WAS a
demand. particularly among on:"c
.orkcrs, for lunches and light meals
n times other than tn" ro.1lAr meal
hCurs; and to meet this demand
len h counter WIS installed n the
.-,;1l hall Of the Railroad Young
Mons Christian a~..cIr.i.n The
coeatcr, at which cash only was ne
ROT able. At first l.m.-oI is service
to coffee. tea aad rolls: then, after a
while. it added canned fruits and ham
and cheese SANDWICHES, and. finally, it
kcd to order eggs in any styl2. The
. nrch counter transacted business
/. from 6 O'Clock in the morning until
- O'Clock at night For light meals
and for noon lunches 10y many rail
road employees, it was preferred to the
mess hall. The lunch counter aGded
to the commisary cost of food 10 per
cent for service. 1t proved profitable
Tho mess hall aims to serve meals at
cost 1t has difficulty in avoiding
loss
The success of the lunch counter
encouraged the commisSary repre-
it be turned into a cafeteria. In aC-
cCrdancc with his suggestion one half
o. the mess hall was partitioned of,
small tables with chairs were Install
and the cafeteria method of serv-
ng food was established. The bust
ness is run on cash instead of Il
ticket basis. It draws large pat
ronagr. 1t returns a small profit to
h the commission.
The food in the commissions cafe
terra is similar in kind and variety to
the food in cafeterias in the states,
but vastly lower in price. For in
stance, plain steak, with potatoes,
bread and butter and coffee. is 80
cents; meal of T-bone steak. 40
cents; meal of tenderloin steak, 60
cents The stock was cut from steers
that once grazed on the tall grass of
the Texas Panhandle; the milk and
the butter originally were yielded by
COWS that gain their rich sustelance
from the perennial pastures of the
Skagit valley in Washington; the
bread is made from -four ground from
wheat that waved and swayCd as rip
ened grain on Dakota prairies; only
the potatoes are indigenous to the
Anchorage distriCt-they come from
the fertile banks of the Matanuska.