During ‘Dine with the Directors’ event on Mar. 15, Senior Director of Longwood Dining Services, Grant Avent, released the news that the anticipated Upchurch University Center will include restaurants such as Panda Express, Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, and an Aramark original burger option.
As construction continues, there is now more space for restaurants on Longwood’s campus, and the decision has been confirmed. These new restaurants will be included as part of student meal plans, which is contracted with Aramark.
“I have been involved in the process from the beginning,” said Susan Sullivan, director of the Office of the Student Union and Involvement at Longwood.
Sullivan described that her involvement with the contractors of the ‘master plan’ has been in close contact through the process. Sullivan assists in determining how much space is allocated for the new facility.
“Most of the food will be downstairs on the main level, as well as seating and a performance space. The building is three levels, but the food options will be on the ground level. The Starbucks will be on the second floor,” Sullivan described of the layout of the building.
Four restaurants have been confirmed as of this point, but Sullivan believes that there is space for one more. While she was in charge of determining the space, the restaurant decisions were left entirely up to Avent and the dining hall directors.
“We’ve already decided, we started three years ago. We did student forums and questioned students as they walked by on Brock Commons and looked at what other schools were doing. We looked at what certain food concepts students were looking for, and then we took that and narrowed it down,” said Avent.
When the rumor of the new facility touched campus, the dining services immediately began surveying students and faculty to determine which restaurant types were wanted. The process began a significant time before the official announcement of the Upchurch University Center was announced.
Due to the fact that Longwood’s dining services are managed by Aramark, the corporation ultimately has the final say in which restaurants are allowed on college campuses.
“Subway would not agree to it because of the proximity with other restaurants. One business which would not go on college campuses for a long time was Panera, but now they agreed to it,” said Avent.
Certain restaurants do not believe that they will be successful in certain locations, so they will not contract with the university. One other aspect which plays a role is Longwood not having a meal equivalency program, which affects whether restaurants will come into the school or not.
“If we had the meal equivalency program, then Chick-fil-A would not be here. They just won’t contract with schools that have that program,” said Avent.
All three branches of the school, the restaurants, and Aramark must agree to a contract. If this fails to happen, then the restaurant will not come to the school. There are specific reasons for each location, which is based off of the business’s personal decisions.
As for what will happen to the current restaurants, Sullivan stated, “there will be no food options in here (the current Student Union building), and Einstein’s and Benne will disappear.”
Ultimately, there will be no room in the current Student Union building for food, which will result in the restaurants being removed altogether.
Avent added that the dining services staff is looking at the remaining space under the Landings apartments at Midtown Square and would like to use those spaces to expand Chick-fil-A and Moe’s, as well as look into future dining options.
The new Upchurch University Center is set to be completed by January 2018.
