Welcome back! We鈥檙e excited to see students back on campus for the Fall 2020 semester and are looking forward to having you dine with us. We鈥檝e enhanced and added some really great features to the dining program here at 冈本视频 and are excited to share them with you.
冈本视频 Dining Services Venues and Meal Plan Options
Food Truck: We bought a food truck! New for 2020, 冈本视频 Dining Services will operate a food truck to provide quick meals and Utica Coffee for students during busy periods. When we begin service, we will park near Frank Dining Hall during lunch for the first few days, but we鈥檒l test different spots around campus to see which location works best.
Frank Dining Hall: Over the summer, we completed several changes to our existing venues, including a renovation project at Frank Dining Hall. Although most of the changes were in the kitchen to ensure that we can serve you faster and more efficiently, you will notice two new stations available at the front of the building: a new coffee station to your right, where you can obtain coffee and baked goods to go without using a swipe to enter the dining hall, and a new grab and go area to your left, where you can get takeout when you need something fast between classes or when you want to grab a second meal for later on your way out.
O鈥機onnor Campus Center (Coop): The Coop will also look a lot different this year. To provide more room for students to physically distance while waiting in line, students will now enter the dining room through the patio door, using a majority of the dining room for queuing. To provide another option, we have also moved the C-Store to the Coop Conference Room and added grab and go choices, which will include pre-made sandwiches and salads, toiletries, as well as some favorites from local businesses. Smoothies will still be available in the former C-Store, though they will only be available via mobile ordering to further reduce congestion.
Donovan鈥檚 Pub: To serve students taking courses down the hill and to provide an alternative to Frank and the Coop during the lunch rush, Sushi with Gusto will run Donovan鈥檚 Pub as a new lunch option Monday through Friday, featuring an expanded menu from the options you鈥檝e seen in the Coop in previous years. Additionally, the Pub will now open with its regular dinner and late night menu six days per week, and you鈥檒l be able to order dinner and late night via the Boost Mobile Ordering App.
Chobani at the Hieber Cafe: In response to student feedback, we are introducing customizable yogurt creations and salads, additional bread options, larger baked goods, dairy-free and gluten-free alternatives, and additional coffee options. To increase speed and reduce congestion, most items will only be available via the Boost Mobile Ordering App.
Edge Cafe: New this year, 冈本视频 Dining Services will also serve meals at the Edge Cafe, providing a convenient alternative for people, especially those living in the Bryan Complex and 113 Broad, to get meals during busy periods or to find additional seating to eat takeout from a different venue.
New Partnerships and New Pop-Up Retail Locations
We are also very excited to announce several partnerships with some of your favorite local restaurants, who will bring their retail options to campus this semester. These new venues will help reduce crowding at our traditional dining halls and give you more choices around campus. To take advantage of these options, every student with a premier meal plan will receive $100 in 鈥橤ate cash per semester, and students with other meal plans may use up to half of their flex dollars at these new locations.
Merrill House: We are excited to welcome the 冈本视频 Inn onto campus to operate Merrill House with a brand new menu and extended hours for this semester. While seating is reserved for faculty and staff, students are encouraged to take advantage of the takeout menu.
Hall of Presidents: In addition to providing overflow seating for Donovan鈥檚 Pub, the Hall of Presidents will also serve as the home to another local favorite: Ray Brothers BBQ will serve lunch and dinner multiple times per week.
Ho Science Center: To help you get your coffee fix, FoJo Beans will operate a food cart outside the Ho Science Center, serving a small menu in addition to their coffee.
Food Truck: Multiple times per week, we will have a second food truck on campus: Royal India Grill is excited to bring their food truck on campus to supplement our other options.
Mobile Ordering and Contactless Payments
To reduce congestion and to support contactless payments, we are introducing two new apps, one for mobile ordering and one for contactless payments. Both are linked from the 冈本视频 app:
Boost Mobile Ordering App: Order creations, sandwiches, and more from Chobani at the Hieber Cafe; smoothies from the O鈥機onnor Campus Center; and full meals from Donovan鈥檚 Pub in advance to help reduce congestion in areas that traditionally have longer wait times.
GET App: To avoid swiping a card, use the GET app鈥檚 scan card feature, which will produce a barcode on your phone. All of our registers now have barcode readers, so you can simply hold your phone up to the scanner to use a meal swipe, flex dollars, or 鈥橤ate cash.
Health and Safety
While we hope that you鈥檙e as excited about these new offerings as we are, none are as important as the steps we鈥檝e taken to ensure the health and safety of the 冈本视频 community. To that end, we want to share just a few of the ways in which we are addressing the challenges facing us all:
- Our associates have completed COVID-19 testing, just like students and University employees.
- Associates have completed additional trainings and will complete daily wellness checks and temperature checks each day before work.
- Associates will wear face masks at all times, and guests must wear face masks when not seated and eating.
- Associates will wear gloves while handling food, and they will wash their hands and change gloves every thirty minutes.
- Our dining halls will follow New York State restaurant guidelines for reduced seating capacity.
- We are adding plexiglass partitions in all venues.
- We are implementing enhanced safety standards across all dining locations on campus, including sanitizing high touch points like soda machines, counters, and food contact services every thirty minutes.
- We have added new sanitization stations for both guests and employees.
for additional details, or visit our for further information on venues, hours of operation, daily menus, updates, etc. If you鈥檙e a junior or senior, you鈥檒l also be able to select the meal plan that is best suited for your needs.
We hope that you are excited for these new additions and features because at the heart of everything we do, we do for the students and their safety. With that being said, we look forward to seeing you at our dining locations practicing physical distancing and safety this fall.
Go, 鈥檊ate!
Sincerely,
Doug Pedrick
Resident District Manager
冈本视频 Dining Services