The student dining center at Concordia College now feels more like a swanky restaurant than a school cafeteria.
A modern dining facility is the centerpiece of a $32 million Knutson Campus Center construction project.
The open area with natural light and a tall ceiling is a huge improvement over the basement dining hall where Cobbers had their meals since 1892, said President Pamela Jolicoeur.
"It really invites people to gather here and to linger," Jolicoeur said. "It symbolizes the heart of Concordia, which is community."
Returning student leaders and athletes are already dining in the facility. New students come to campus on Sunday and classes begin Aug. 30.
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Jane Grant-Shambaugh, director of auxiliary services at Concordia, said student input from interviews, surveys and focus groups drove decisions about the new center.
It's divided into 11 stations with a core menu and a featured menu that changes each meal.
The dining center uses 3,000 recipes and offers people 50 to 60 menu items during each meal, said Debra Lee, director of dining services.
Students tasted and chose everything from the pizza sauce to the type of vanilla hand-scooped ice cream.
Prefer soft-serve ice cream? That's available, too.
Students also can find a 24-hour breakfast station with cereal, bagels and waffle makers, popular at the former dining center.
A new option is a station called Explore that will feature a new theme each month. Right now it features authentic Mexican food, which required chefs to study culinary techniques, Lee said.
Favorites such as cheeseburgers and pizza are always available, as well as healthier options like specialty salads made each day.
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The station called Bliss features desserts like "better than homework cake" and fruit as a more nutritional option.
Each menu item is labeled with a colored sticker that indicates its nutritional value. More specific nutrition information is available at a computer kiosk.
Concordia junior Danielle Russell said she likes the healthy options, particularly the addition of soy milk. Vegetarian options also are available at each station.
Sophomore Nick Hannula, who called the former dining room a "dungeon," said the new facility exceeded his expectations.
Junior Paul Miller ate in the center for the first time Wednesday and was impressed. He had pizza, which is made from scratch and cooked in a stone pizza oven.
"You can definitely taste the difference in the quality," Miller said.
Concordia students are required to live on campus for the first two years and get a meal plan.
Grant-Shambaugh said the price of meal plans varies, but it's in the middle of what similar schools charge.
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Students and visitors can eat at the center without a meal plan for $8.85.
Off-campus students and upper classmen will be more likely to want a meal plan now, students said.
"It's so much more appealing now," Russell said.
Center facts
- $32 million construction project is largest ever for Concordia.
- Work on the 95,000-square-foot facility began in October 2005.
- The new portion of the center opened in August, and Phase 2 will be complete by fall 2008.
- The centerpiece is a modern dining facility that provides more options for students and economically friendly equipment.
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- The dining center seats 700 students, twice the size of the previous dining room.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple at (701) 241-5590
