Patio dining, Creekstone Burger Company among new dining features this fall
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
When students returned to campus this week, they discovered several exciting major changes to campus dining options and facilities including a new burger concept, new outdoor seating and after-hours food options.
Lipscomb Dining Services, managed by Sodexo, has been hard at work during the summer in several renovation projects and the addition of new dining options.
“We continually seek to provide dining services that not only meet but exceed the needs of our students and the entire Lipscomb community,” said Wolcott Fary, general manager of Lipscomb Dining Services – Sodexo. “Food and dining are very important aspects of the student experience and making them feel at home. We are excited about the improvements and new options we have developed over the summer.”
The food court area, located on the main level of the Bennett Campus Center, has had significant changes in the last few months. The Lipscomb Dining Services team recently developed its own restaurant concept called Creekstone Burger Company. It is an artisan, smashed craft burger concept that features locally sourced produce and fresh ground beef.
“The Sodexo team here at Lipscomb developed the Creekstone Burger Company concept – the menu, the branding,” said Fary. “We are very pleased to offer this new concept and are especially pleased that our team developed every aspect of it just for the Lipscomb community.”
In addition to smashburgers, the Creekstone Burger Company offers hand-dipped corn dogs, hand cut French fries made from Kennebec potatoes, homemade pickles and handmade milkshakes among other menu items.
Blue Coast Burrito has moved locations in the food court area and has a new look and service style while still serving its popular West Coast-style Mexican food that is a student favorite.
Papa John’s pizza has also changed locations in the food court area and is receiving a refreshed look. It now offers 8-inch personal pizzas made to order with a cook time of seven minutes along with pizza by the slice and whole pizzas.
Chick-fil-A and Starbucks are also located on the main level of the food court area and offer a variety of food and beverage options.
The convenience store and Toss, a salad and smoothie food shop, located on the main level of the campus center, also underwent significant renovation this summer. The convenience store is being overhauled to have a market-style look, said Fary.
“We have taken down a couple of walls and created two entrances to the convenience story and have converted it to a market-place feel complete with carts and free-standing merchandise displays,” said Fary. “We really think our students will like this new approach and additional offerings.”
Fary said the convenience market offers fresh items made in the Sodexo kitchen, grab-n-go items, local products and more. Toss will be located adjacent to the market and will continue to offer its daily offerings.
The Bison Café, located on the top level of Bennett Campus Center, has undergone several major renovations this summer.
The main dining area is getting a facelift, according to Fary, that includes new flooring, ceiling and paint. Students will also notice the addition of two new serving stations to accommodate hot and cold options, salads and desserts to cut down on the wait time at the existing stations. Beverage stations have also been moved to other locations in the dining room to create a less-crowded food service area. The dish room has also been reconfigured and updated.
The porch seating area has also been expanded to accommodate more diners and also features new flooring, paint and lighting. Diners will also notice a better view to the patio from the porch seating area.
Fary said the biggest transformation is the patio area. The area that was occasionally used by diners on a nice fall or spring day, is now designed to be a comfortable destination for students. The patio has a new, paver-style floor; a sail-style canopy; outdoor furniture that can be used throughout the year and fire pits among other features.
“We hope this is a place that students will want to gather to relax and to hang out throughout the year,” said Fary. “Student groups can host events there and we hope it becomes a favorite place for our students to be.”
Fary said the patio will also offer a late-night dining option for students from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Students may enter the patio after the dining center closes for the evening through a separate entrance. The patio will be open seven days a week. The menu will offer late-night snacks such as wings, ice cream, coffee drinks and more. This week, there are special food giveaways to celebrate the venue’s opening week.
Other dining options on campus include the popular Au Bon Pain, located in the Student Activities Center, that offers a wide variety of sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries, smoothies and baked goods. ABP also has a satellite location in the nursing building that offers a selection of sandwiches, salads and other grab-and-go items.
“For a university the size of Lipscomb, there are a large number of food options for students,” said Fary. “We try to develop new and updated options for our dining services every three to five years to stay current. Our community is responding well. In our customer surveys our satisfaction numbers increased from fall to spring, which isn’t typically the trend.”
Students also have the opportunity to purchase Bison Cash, which can be used to supplement meal plans and can be used to purchase food at campus dining locations other than the Bison Café. Faculty and staff may also purchase Bison Cash and use it at any of the food service locations throughout campus. Bison Cash can be reloaded at any time and will remain on a student’s account semester after semester until they graduate. Bison Cash is loaded onto a student or employee’s Lipscomb ID.
Want to know more about Lipscomb Dining Services? Visit lipscomb.sodexomyway.com.
— Photos by Kristi Jones