After two closures and challenges with unions, labour laws, and finances, Diabolos’ Coffee Bar — located in the Junior Common Room of University College (UC) — is officially set to reopen. UC Lit has hired a manager, and UC’s Coffee Bar Board is in the early stages of planning the café’s comeback, expected sometime this academic year.

Diabolos’ is a student-led café owned and operated by UC’s student government, the University College Literary and Athletics Society (UC Lit). First opened in 1966, Diabolos’ shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It briefly reopened in winter 2023 but closed again shortly after due to financial difficulties. 

When it reopens, Diabolos’ will join Café Reznikoff and The Owlery Café as one of the three cafés on UC’s grounds — with the Owlery opening after Diabolos’ initial closure. 

Reopening 

According to UC Lit’s July Council meeting minutes, UC’s Coffee Bar Board had “been meeting regularly” over the summer as they “continue[d] preparing for the Diabolos reopening.”

In August, UC Lit officially ratified and hired a manager and an alumni advisor for the café. 

The manager, Raquel Lewin, previously managed Diabolos’ during its brief return in winter 2023. The alumni advisor, Clare Spikerman — a UC and Diabolos’ alum who now runs her own café — will provide guidance to the board.

In an email to The Varsity, Lewin confirmed that she would return as general manager of Diabolos, and noted that she and the Coffee Bar Board are still in the early stages of planning the café’s reopening. 

Diabolos’ 2023 closure

Diabolos’ closed shortly after its 2023 reopening due to financial struggles and complications with union and labour laws. 

During a UC Lit meeting, Jared Boland, University College’s Assistant Dean of Students, Student Life & Leadership, said that Diabolos’ hiring through UC Lit had previously run into tax issues with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). As a result, the university took over Diabolos’ “human resourcing duties, including payroll, bargaining, onboarding and offboarding, reporting income to the CRA, and issuing tax paperwork,” wrote Boland in an email to the UC Lit. The manager position was classified as a work-study role, which allowed most of students’ pay to be largely subsidized by the government. 

In winter 2023, however, U of T’s human resources determined that the positions could not be considered work-study because they closely resembled jobs held by members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Under CUPE’s agreement, the university is prohibited from creating jobs that unionized employees could fill. 

During the university’s reevaluation of pay for casual and underemployed employees, it was discovered that under union frameworks, the manager role would need to be paid $48 an hour. The wage for Diabolos’ manager had not increased in years from $16 an hour. 

UC Lit could not afford the wage increase and now risked a union grievance. The café shut down mid-semester, and has not returned since. 

The manager role is now hired directly through the UC Lit rather than the university, meaning the position no longer violates union agreements.