The food court in the Student Center will be seeing some renovations, and is replacing several of the concepts, including Great Wraps.
“The construction began on Saturday November 1st” said Georgia Tech Dining Services General Manager, Staci Flores.
The changes include the addition of two new concepts that will be replacing existing concepts and one concept that will be refreshed and relocated.
First, Far East Fusion, the sushi and hot bowl concept, will be refreshed and relocated from its current spot to Rosita’s Mexican Cantina spot, which will no longer be available as an option in the food court. During the renovations, the sushi and hot bowl options will still be available to customers.
In place of Far East Fusion’s current spot, Dining Services will be adding Ray’s Pizza. Ray’s Pizza currently operates out of Tech Square where it will still remain after these changes.
“We are going to have pizza by the slice and pasta but not the Mediterranean concept that they bring,” Flores said.
The final change will be the addition of the Tex-Mex food chain, Twisted Taco, which will be replacing Great Wraps.
“We have Tech surveys that go out every fall and spring semesters and we also have a dining specific survey that goes out at the same times,” Flores said.
According to Flores, the comments are reviewed and decisions are based on the suggestions and opinions of the students and staff.
“Panda Express, which we are currently adding, came up often in [the survey].”
The goal, Flores states, is to have variety and create an exciting program and have some different changes.
“We look at performance of current concepts and also where the congestions usually form such as at Chick-fil-A,” Flores said. “We then try to bring in branded concepts, the customers like branded concepts which can then help alleviate the congestions and long queues.”
In the end, states Flores, it is about customer satisfaction.
“Customers are the biggest decision makers which is why we send out the surveys twice a year to get comments from the students and staff.”
Apart from customers, Dining Services, Campus Services and the Student Advisory Council try out different concepts and facilities by either touring them or bring them to campus.
“For example, we travelled to Emory and had Twisted Taco there,” Flores said.
Starting next semester, in Spring 2015, the food court timings will be extended and they will be open until 7:00 p.m., allowing students to eat dinner.
“We are also going to re-introduce a concept that was in place before North Avenue Dining opened called Dinner on the Court,” Flores said..
Students on a traditional meal-plan will be able to get dinner at the food court from Essential Eats and Salad Bar.
These projects are expected to be completed by January 28. However, this tentative date may change at a later time due to potential delays in the arrival of construction materials and for other reasons.
Dining Services hopes to have Panda Express open to students during Finals week, but again, unexpected changes may result in its opening being delayed until the Spring Semester.
During the transition period, only three of the current concepts are available: Cafe Spice, Zaya and Essential Eats.