Villanovans are preparing to finish off their midterms and head home for Spring Break, but that does not mean work slows on campus with Dining Services as they push ahead to continue overhauling Villanova’s dining options.
The introduction of new Coca-Cola Freestyle Machines and the establishment of Smoothitias in the Connelly Center, along with the addition of Sushi in Cafe Nova, are just the beginning, per Executive Director of Dining Services, Andrew Camuso.
With a total renovation of Conn to come between the end of this academic year and the start of the new one, continuing pop-ups of new food at different dining halls and the long-awaited introduction of reusable to-go boxes, Camuso has no intention of slowing down.
“I think [we’ve] hit the ground running, there’s no doubt,” Camuso said. “I think where the department of dining itself is evolving is we’re really looking at destination dining, so having this inclusivity of having kind of food for everybody.”
The to-go boxes, in particular, has been a project of great importance to Camuso and students involved with Sustainability and the Student Government Association (SGA), particularly SGA Vice President Aleko Zeppos.
“I originally brought [some samples] to one of our SGA meetings, showed them to our 60-some members and got everyone’s opinions, heard the good, heard the bad [and] we landed on a very good company,” Zeppos said in an October interview with The Villanovan. “Having Andrew on board, he’s been a very big advocate for sustainability in general for dining [and] we are very focused on making sure campus is sustainable overall.”
The boxes are expected to replace the current one-use paper boxes shortly after Spring Break and will be piloted at all-you-can-eat dining halls (Donahue Hall [Spit], Dougherty Hall [Pit] and St. Mary’s Hall) with student feedback playing a very key role in the success of said program.
When it comes to other dining options, such as Cafe Nova, Second Storey or Connelly Center, changes will come later. With Connelly at least, that will likely be after Villanova finishes its interior renovations of the student hotspot.
“Come the day after Commencement, it’s all going under construction, so it’s all going to be different,” Camuso said. “That’ll be announced in the near future what that’s gonna look like, but it’s something exciting and will align with what we’re talking about for the Dining program. I think we need to keep things fresh and exciting and kind of break up what you see every day. Chicken fingers are great, so they’ll stay, but you know, the green beans and grilled chicken, it’s the same stuff every day and you’re eating three square meals here. It’s boring after a while, so you just keep it fun, keep it tasty.”
Serving as one of the main dining options for students living on main campus, many believe that Conn and specifically Belle Air Terrace are due for an upgrade, in both the food options and layout.
“In my freshman year, I lived in Delurey Hall, part of what many call “Fresh-Main” and this meant that Belle-Air in Conn was consistently my go-to spot for getting meals,” junior Tommy Michels said. “With this in mind, I feel that a renovation would be great for this dining area and effectively address the key issues that it faces. The main issue I feel can be fixed is the efficiency of the space. Belle Air’s ordering stations are in a relatively small area. With long lines on the two main stations, the grill and the deli, many clutter problems occur, while other stations, such as the pizza area are repeatedly empty. If the layout of the area could be reworked, it would help fight the crowd problems and prioritize the food that students choose to go to Conn for.”
There’s also the limited-time operations, such as Wednesday’s pop-up lunch options at Drosdick Hall or the offerings from local providers in dining halls sporadically. It all represents a firm shift from Camuso and Dining Services to embrace change and a multitude of different options at every available place to eat on campus.
“There’s so many things that I’m excited we got done really quick,” Camuso said. “[This dining team] have been here for a long time and change is hard, and a lot of the team has stepped up and pivoted to do these things that aren’t necessarily comfortable in some regards or could be extra work, but without them, this stuff wouldn’t happen. I’d have to say the team’s mindset as a whole has been incredible [because] change is not easy.”
