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As a response to student requests for on-campus late-night dining, Campus Dining Services is piloting a made-to-order dinner and breakfast food program in Hutch Commons this week.
The pilot late-night food program, which runs until midnight from Monday to Thursday, will be used by Aramark to gauge the need for after-hours dining on campus. In addition to the standard pizza and grill stations, breakfast skillets, biscuits, and French toast sticks will be offered starting at 9 p.m.
Depending on how many people show up, late-night dining may be offered at the end of this year or the beginning of Fall quarter.
The Campus Dining Advisory Board developed the program based on responses to student surveys. The board, which consists of six Student Government and Inter-House Council appointed students and is chaired by Director of Campus Dining Richard Mason, saw the opportunity to meet a student need. “There has been a consistent message from surveys and our committee that [late-night dining] was a big student desire,” Mason said.
First-year board member Patrick Ip said the student body obviously needs late-night dining. “In Hyde Park it’s really hard to get food after 10 o’clock,” Ip said. “We need an alternative, and I think [Hutch breakfast] is the solution.”
Although the board has made late-night dining changes in the past, like extending Bart Mart’s hours to 3 a.m. last year, this is the first attempt to serve food on campus so late, Mason said.
With flyers and Facebook groups promoting the program, the future of the late-night dining service will largely come down to student turnout and reactions to the program. Mason said that 200–300 people each night will be the target for the service to be continued.
"It's perverse and baffling how good this breakfast is, but at 10 [p.m.] I'm happy just to have a warm meal," first-year DJ LoBraico said in Hutch last night.
If the program is made permanent, the size and variety of the late-night dining service will depend on surveys and comment cards, Mason said.
