Wells Fargo goes big with new work café

Wells Fargo Advisors (WFA) in downtown St. Louis was undergoing some big changes. The number of employees was growing, and many of the workers were being shifted toward the campus’s once quiet west side. And all of these people needed somewhere to eat.

“We previously had a small foodservice operation on that side of campus which provided grab-and-go and prepared foods. And the café on the other end of our campus was never designed to provide foodservice for over 5,000 team members. So we desperately needed to build a new café,” says Wells Fargo Advisors Business and Administration Manager Zach Smith.

The Arcturis architects used natural light as well as artificial lighting to brighten the new Market Street Café.

Rather than expand on the operations, WFA decided to start from scratch. The new space, dubbed the Market Street Café, wouldn’t just be a place where employees could grab a bite. It would also serve as a hub for bringing people together. “We want our team members to be able to get away from their desks and have an inviting place to work and collaborate as needed,” Smith says.

WFA enlisted the local architectural firm Arcturis to transform a 66,000-square-foot shell space into a multipurpose facility that would be bright and open. “We knew it needed to be more than just a café,” says Arcturis Principal Julie Keil. “It needed to serve other purposes of the day, like early morning coffee, midmorning meetings, team gatherings and afternoon business events.” In addition to a dedicated foodservice area, that meant carving out areas for meeting rooms, collaborative areas, as well as huddle rooms for quiet conversations or focus tasks. And of course, offering Wi-Fi and easy access to power booths for recharging.

Food was still the main focus though. And with up to 5,000 employees to feed daily, the options needed to be varied—and delicious. The space consists of various food stations that offer a range of flavors, many of which are globally inspired. There’s the Mediterranean station that serves shawarma and fresh-baked flatbreads; the pan-Asian station with stir-fries, noodle bowls, and soups like ramen and pho; the made-to-order pasta station with housemade tagliatelle; the stone pizza oven that turns out made-to-order pizzas, calzones, and stromboli; a grill and deli station with fresh sandwiches; and a massive salad bar offering a variety of fresh and roasted vegetables. For a sweet treat, there’s also a frozen-yogurt machine and a variety of housemade desserts.

The Earth Bowl (left) counts pulled pork and honey-roasted chipotle BBQ sauce among its ingredients. The pizza is topped with roasted pears, goat cheese, pesto, pine nuts, balsamic drizzle and microgreens.

There’s also a food station dedicated to a rotating cast of local partners. “St. Louis has a big food truck scene, and the approach was to invite food trucks to come inside on a rotating schedule,” says Smith. That’s allowed the cafeteria to regularly add new food offerings without having to change its core menu.

Though meals were made-to-order in the old café too, food prep was largely closed off to customers. The action stations in the new space were designed to face outward, so guests can talk with the chefs and watch their food being prepared. “We really focused on making the stations interactive,” Smith says.

WFA also aimed to emphasize the use of using fresh, sustainable ingredients when possible. Many of the herbs and microgreens used in meals are grown in the urban cultivator, which is located at the cafeteria’s entrance. It’s also the first location on campus to have composting, a feature that helped the facility earn a LEED Gold certification.

The subterranean space originally had no access to daylight, making it dark and cold. “We had to figure out how to activate the space and use natural light and lighting to make it successful,” Keil says. She opted to remove the large granite panels that were blocking the natural light and replace them with glass panels. She also took advantage of the arched ceiling by installing additional lighting that would cast a warm, inviting glow. And despite the fact that the café could seat up to 1,000 guests at a given time, care was taken to make sure it never felt crowded. “Arcturis put a lot of effort into ensuring that the stations flowed, and that the aisles and traffic patterns were wide enough,” Smith says.

The warm, community-focused design and variety of menu offerings have made the Market St. Café a huge hit on campus. Since opening in October, “the response from our team members has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Smith. “People love the bright, open feel of the space and the variety of fresh, new options available to them.”