Campus Dining expanded hours, added new cuisine options and updated Taste of Nashville’s alcohol policy for Fall 2023. Students expressed mixed feelings toward the changes, with many appreciative of the extended hours and others hesitant yet excited about the new cuisine options.
The updates, announced on Aug. 9, expand upon the changes to the meal plan structure that were announced earlier this summer. Meal plans are now on a semesterly, rather than weekly, basis and limit students to two meal swipes at Munchie Marts per day, as opposed to the previous five.
In accordance with the new two-swipe limit, Kissam Munchie Mart has been roped off from Kissam Kitchen, and students are no longer allowed to get Munchie Mart sides with dining hall meals.
Campus Dining declined to comment on whether they plan to shift away from convenience store options in favor of full meal options but said that they do not plan to make any changes to the other Munchie Marts this year.
Expanded dining hours
All residential dining halls — Commons, E. Bronson Ingram, Zeppos and Rothschild Dining Halls — will be open from 7 a.m.–9 p.m. CT on weekdays and from 9 a.m.–9 p.m. CT on weekends. Previously, all residential dining halls closed at 8 p.m. CT every day. Though connected to Moore and Warren Residential Colleges, Kissam Kitchen is considered “retail dining” and will continue to close at 8 p.m. CT.
“For the 2023-24 academic year, our operating model includes extended evening hours, and our recruiting and hiring efforts have supported that plan. This also includes a robust student employment program,” Campus Dining said in an email to The Hustler.
Junior Saksham Saksena expressed appreciation for the expanded dining hours and hopes they will be extended even later in the future.
“Like many other students, I often sleep late and, as such, I would prefer dining to be open perhaps as late as midnight. The lengthening of hours to 9 p.m. is a great step toward this,” Saksena said. “From conversation with dining staff, it seems that they are hoping to laten these hours further in the upcoming years, bringing us closer to my midnight preferences and the timings of pre-COVID dining.”
During the 2019–20 academic year, Campus Dining introduced Late Night Dining at EBI and Commons from 11 p.m.–2 a.m. CT on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This policy was canceled later that year as a result of COVID-19.
Continued focus on cultural cuisine
Rand General Manager Rebekah Beck told The Hustler in January 2023 that Campus Dining’s long-term goal is to craft a “specific culinary identity” for each residential college dining hall. In line with this aim, the Aug. 9 announcement noted several changes and additions to dining options at EBI, Rothschild and Zeppos.
In addition to continuing the operation of its pho and Mongolian bowl stations for weekday dinner, EBI will now feature a fried rice station called “Rice, Rice, Baby” and Asian pancakes for weekday lunch. Rothschild, which hosted a street taco station last year, will instead feature arepas. The Taco Shop will move to Zeppos, which will also offer Crafted Flatbreads, a weekday breakfast pizza bar and dim sum weekend brunch. Campus Dining confirmed to The Hustler that dumplings, which were advertised in an Aug. 12 Instagram post, will be part of the dim sum brunch at Zeppos.
Campus Dining said these menus and recipes were developed based on feedback and input from student groups on campus. It declined to comment on the specific student groups with which it collaborated.
“Our menus are designed to align with current culinary trends, with an eye toward ensuring that our menus reflect the diversity of our student body,” Campus Dining’s email reads.
First-year Divija Katakam shared her excitement about the cultural cuisine offerings.
“I’m super excited for Vanderbilt’s dining halls, especially after high school cafeteria food,” Katakam said. “As a foodie, I’m especially excited for the international cuisine because, coming to the South, I wasn’t expecting to see arepas, tacos or sushi offered at Vandy.”
Junior Sydney Lin expressed concern about the potential quality of Campus Dining’s new pan-Asian options.
“I am doubtful that Campus Dining would be able to pull it off. They really don’t have any authentic Asian food at all,” Lin said. “They can’t even cook rice normally, so I’m just not sure how much we can trust the changes. But I am eager to see!”
According to the announcement, the Language Table program, which was piloted last year across Rothschild, Kissam, EBI and Zeppos Dining Halls and Belleview House, will be relaunched at Zeppos and Belleview House from Monday through Thursday. Chinese, Hindi-Urdu, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Sanskrit and Spanish Language Tables will be held at Zeppos and the Russian Language Table will be held at Belleview House. New this year, Campus Dining will offer students dining at Zeppos an array of “internationally-inspired meals” catered to the culture of each language spoken at the tables. Students at Language Tables at Belleview House will be able to pick up Russian-inspired meals at Zeppos before their table meetings as well. The first table meetings will be held the week of September 4.
Updates to Taste of Nashville
A new limit of two alcoholic beverage purchases per transaction is now in effect at Taste of Nashville partner restaurants. Additionally, any purchase of alcoholic beverages must be made in conjunction with a food purchase.
“This policy aligns with the university’s existing policy on alcohol and other drugs in the student handbook; in particular, on-campus events that serve alcohol are required to have food. Proper age verification will be the sole responsibility of restaurant staff, and students are expected to abide by this policy,” a Campus Dining representative said.
New on-campus Taste of Nashville options include Red Bicycle, the cafe that replaced Magnolia Café on the first floor of 6 Magnolia, and Wasabi, which serves sushi and boba tea on the first floor of the Sarratt Student Center. Though these locations will begin the semester with only Meal Money/Commodore Cash options, Campus Dining told The Hustler that they hope to offer some meal swipe options later in the fall.
Increased mobile ordering options
Coupled with extended hours, Campus Dining is also working to increase dining efficiency, with several menu options available for preorder on the GET app. These now include Randwiches, as well as breakfast pizza and crafted flatbreads at Zeppos.
The Pub at Overcup Oak, which required mobile pre-ordering after reopening from COVID-19 for limited service last year, will now have walk-up lunch service from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. CT on weekdays and dinner service from 3–9 p.m. CT from Sunday through Thursday. Pre-ordering options remain available.
