While Sbisa Dining Hall will still appear the same from the outside, Chartwells has planned extensive renovations for the inside layout to accommodate a greater made-to-order selection.
Reid Joseph, 2013-2014 student body president, has been communicating on behalf of students with Chartwells and the university and said the renovations will cost around $4 million.
Renovation of the facility will start May 8 and end early August, said Gina Capetanakis, marketing manager for Chartwells.
Capetanakis said continuous services lines directly connected to the kitchen will be replaced with food preparation and service stations throughout the dining room.
“These stations enable students to have more customization and more made-to-order selections that are prepared by chefs and culinarians right in front of them,” Capetanakis said.
Kasey Kram, residence hall association president and senior agribusiness major, said the benefits of these “pods on dining” are better crowd control and more options for students, including gluten-free and vegetarian options.
“They’re not in a line, they’re all over the facility so that students can break up and there’s not a mass crowd at any of them,” Kram said.
Kram said the new facility will also include a variety of sitting arrangements, ranging from the long tables currently in the facility to booths and circular tables.
Kram said the section that currently holds the world cuisine section will be renovated to hold two new separate restaurants, Smashburger and Lime, a Mexican cuisine restaurant.
Capetanakis said part of the motivation behind renovating Sbisa was the need to upgrade cooking equipment.
With all the renovations, Kram said Sbisa should have a more “homey” feel in the fall semester.
“Sbisa definitely looks like a more friendly place to go, not just to eat, but sit for a while,” Kram said. “You can grab lunch at 11 and then leave at 1 after you’ve done a couple hours of studying there, just kind of getting to relax with friends and stuff of that nature.”
As a part of Chartwell’s contact with the university, Capetanakis said the Underground Food Court, The Grill at the Pavilion and Poor Yorick’s will also be renovated.
Capetanakis said summer students and those visiting for their New Student Conferences will be able to eat at Duncan Dining Hall.