News > December 6, 2007

By Liza Greenspun | News editor

The Benson Renovations Committee has come up with two distinct and detailed layout options for the Benson food court, with construction planned to begin in summer 2008.

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Students study and hang out in Shorty’s, the only location on campus where alcohol is served. (Sophie Mullinax/Old Gold & Black)

According to senior Whitney Marshall, Student Government president and member of the Benson Renovations Committee, Assistant Vice President of Campus Services and Planning Connie Carson and Resident District Manager of ARAMARK Veronica Cruickshank are working with the committee to implement the desires of students.

While the committee is still in the very beginning of the planning stages for Benson, Carson has met with an architect from Tipton and Associates, an architectural company based out of Baton Rouge, La., that specializes in campus food services. The company also remodeled the Pit in 2005.

Carson said she has been working with the architect to look at the infrastructure of Benson, or, the part that cannot be seen and that students probably do not think about.

Examining the infrastructure is essential to know what is feasible for the restructuring of the food court.

What most students do not realize is that there is no kitchen in the Benson Food Court, and the only place available for storage is on the fifth floor of the building, with a freight elevator the only way to transport food from one floor to the other, Carson said.

“What you all see out front is all they have,” Carson said.

She is working with the architect to look at design, the feasibility of adding a kitchen to Benson, storage issues, service and traffic issues for students trying to buy food and the ability to include a variety of food options based on what students want.

Carson said the committee has received a lot of feedback from students, and that the feedback Marshall collected matches the feedback gathered from the Dining Style Surveys that were conducted in the Pit earlier this semester.

Carson said they are looking at that information as well as national trends in campus food services.

According to Marshall, the committee and architect have come up with two detailed layout options for Benson.

They are currently working with the architect to see which of these two plans is the most feasible and cost effective.

The first plan would include a flat top stove in Shorty’s for grilling and the possibility of closing Shorty’s off from the rest of Benson so that it could be open for late-night options.

The wall separating the food court from the seating area would be knocked down in order to create more room, decreasing the amount of foot traffic in the room.

Food options for this plan would include a “grab-and-go” place with healthier options, an expanded Chik-Fil-A, Energy Zone with more smoothie options in place of the Bodega and a deli with high end sandwiches and soups.

The second option, according to Marshall, is the preferred plan.

It would include a full kitchen built outside of Shorty’s so that Shorty’s would have a grill open during the day, an upscale restaurant at night and late-night options.

With this plan, the new deli would take the place of the Bodega, Chik-Fil-A would be expanded, a World Fair station would feature different international foods each day, Energy Zone would offer smoothies and there would be “grab-and-go” station.

Although Marshall said that this plan is the favorite at this point, Carson said it is unknown whether or not Benson can support a kitchen. “We have some pretty specific kitchen limitations,” she said.

Marshall said that both of these plans were based on student input.

Many students, according to Marshall, have expressed an interest in having a sushi option on campus.

She said that now sushi is not an option because the university’s health inspector is very strict and will not allow it.

However, the university is working with the health inspector to try to bring sushi to campus.

“What they are doing is right on point,” Marshall said of Carson and Cruickshank’s plans with the architect.

Although they have two possible plans laid out, the Benson renovations are still in the preliminary planning stages.

“We’re still in the, what I call, conceptualization stage,” Carson said.

The challenges now, she said, are to figure out whether or not a kitchen can be built and whether or not building bathrooms in the food court area would be feasible so that the Food Court could be open later than the rest of the building.

“When we come back in January, the clouds will start rolling,” Carson said.

“It’s exciting and fun.”

Starting in January, Carson said, they will be in heavy design mode.

Carson is currently heading the committee researching the project.

However, Jim Alty, assistant vice president of Facilities Management, will take over because Carson will be leaving the university in February.

Carson will move on to take a job as vice president for student services at Furman University in 2008.