During each Saturday in May, UChicago Dining will pilot a new Saturday Night Meal Swipe Program. The Saturday Night Meal Swipes will be automatically added to student accounts on the Unlimited, Phoenix, and Apartment meal plans, as well as resident staff accounts. 

Saturday Night Meal Swipes will be redeemable only at Hutchinson Commons between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. The swipes will not roll over between weekends, and will include combo meal specials and dessert options from each station in Hutchinson Commons, including Saffron and Noodles.  

The number of meal exchanges and Maroon Dollars in a student’s account will not be affected by the Saturday Night Meal Swipes. Hutchinson Commons will be open for an additional 30 minutes for each Saturday throughout May, closing at 7:30 p.m. instead of at 7 in order to accommodate the pilot program.  

The program is intended to provide more weekend food options for students while addressing student concerns about the limitations of the Saturday Night Social Club (SNSC) program. The SNSC serves as a meal option for students on Saturdays, providing a themed, “family-style dinner,” according to UChicago Dining’s website.  

The SNSC program is free to students on a meal plan and $10 for students not on a meal plan. SNSC also operates by appointment, although students without appointments are provided food. The issue of inflexibility, particularly for students who did not know their weekend plans in advance, was one of the concerns voiced to Dining. 

Dining proposed the Saturday Night Meal Swipe Program as a solution to allow more flexibility for students and for food to be taken outside of Hutchinson Commons after collaborating with various student groups, the Center for College Student Success, and the Campus Dining Advisory Board (which is composed of Student Government and Inter-House Council representatives). 

The next SNSC will be on April 29, but the program will not be held in Hutchinson Commons throughout May.  

Feedback will be taken each Saturday from those who participate in the Saturday Night Meal Swipe Program and a survey will be sent out after the pilot period to those who did not redeem their swipes. 

If the feedback is positive, Dining will consider implementing the program for the entirety of the 2017–18 school year at no additional cost to students, according to Stacey Brown, the assistant executive director of dining operations.