The recent announcement of Brittain Dining Hall’s closure has left many students upset and concerned about the future of dining on campus. The dining hall is a campus favorite, and its convenient location, stained glass windows and cathedral ceilings have made it a cherished landmark, offering a unique and memorable dining experience that many students will miss.
However, Ryan Greene, Tech’s Executive Director of Dining and Retail, wants students to know that Brittain’s closing is only temporary.
“It is not a permanent closure,” Greene emphasized. “We’ve announced closing it for this year and we’ll have to see how things go, but we are hoping to open it for the next academic year.”
After more than a century of operation, Brittain’s age has led to various issues, and it now needs maintenance that had been deferred.
“We have been operating Brittain in a safe manner,” Greene explained. “But we realized that if we didn’t work on it in the near future, there could be safety issues.”
Along with fixing maintenance problems, Greene and his employees aspire to make Brittain a better dining experience for students. Renovations and repairs will cost upwards of $10 million and will include work on electrical issues, a new servery, and the replacement of the flooring, ceiling, and lighting.
“We are still in the brainstorming and design phase of what we want to renovate, but we’re going to be working with a lot of constituents including SGA [Student Government Association] and our HA [Housing Association] to get general feedback before we make any decisions about Brittain’s future,” Greene explained.
With Brittain’s closure for the academic year, Dining and Retail anticipate other increased demands on campus. As a result, North Avenue Dining Hall will become operational 24 hours a day, Monday through Thursday. Additionally, a third shift has been added, meaning employees will work 10 hours a day for four days in a row. It will also be furnished with new outdoor furniture including shades, seats and other lounging pieces for students to sit comfortably in the heat.
“SGA and most of our students have been asking for a 24-hour dining hall for a few years now because UGA and Georgia State both have one,” Greene explained, “So we have found an opportunity to do that without displacing or laying off any employees. Brittain’s employees will be moving to either West Village or North Ave.”
The Go Food program, a reusable, sustainable way for students to get a to-go meal for free, has also been expanded. Students will now be able to check out a container for three meals a day versus the one meal a day that was in place before.
Tech Dining is also adding a “Flex Plan” specifically for incoming freshmen to provide them a different meal plan option. First-year students can now choose a plan with 200 meal swipes and over 800 dining dollars.
“The new plan allows students to use more dining dollars for retail purposes rather than for only dining hall meals, which has been a popular request from students in the past,” Greene explained. “Boho Tacos, Rays, and Tin Drum in Tech Square will be accepting Dining Dollars starting this fall which will also help with the traffic in the remaining dining halls.”
Other changes in dining this fall include the launch of the Starship delivery robots. Students will be able to download the Starship app and use their dining dollars to deliver food to a desired location on campus up to Tech Square, North Ave Apartments, and the Global Learning Center. Food can be delivered from most retail dining as well.
In addition to new delivery options, the Student Center will feature a new Costa coffee machine, offering a variety of coffee types that students can purchase with their dining dollars. Clough will also introduce a Chick-fil-A vending machine, providing another convenient dining option for students.
All dining locations will also be focused on increasing the quality of food. Undrey Bostic, Tech’s new Director of Residential Dining, has spearheaded the culinary team’s plan to improve food production, especially after dinner when food quantity has tended to drop in the past. Improvements have included changing a number of recipes and utilizing the new food management system, Seaboard, which has helped with production quantities.
“With the additional traffic added to the remaining dining halls, Undrey understands the priority of having more quality food after the traditional dining time,” Greene explained.
One big area Greene has focused on is prioritizing sustainability within dining on campus. A student-founded company, Racoon AI, has partnered with the dining and retail department. The app allows Greene and his employees to recognize and analyze food waste around campus.
“We ask students to be cognizant of what they put on their plate and to make sure they consume all of it,” Greene explained.
Over the past year, 84% of leftover food has been successfully deterred from landfills, and Greene hopes to raise that number in the coming years. The program, Green Forks, also promotes limiting food waste for events. When event organizers have leftover food, they can scan a QR code and communication will go out to students who have food security issues.
While Brittain undergoes necessary renovations, these changes aim to provide a better and more efficient dining experience for students, staff, and faculty.