Students Fed Up With Lack Of Food Options At BBC

On the shopFIU website, there is an entire page dedicated to the restaurants and food options available at the Modesto Maidique Campus.

At BBC, however, only two are currently open and students are fed up.

The food court at the Biscayne Bay Campus, Bistro by the Bay, has been under construction since the end of Spring 2019. The space originally housed three restaurants – Moe’s, Burger 305 and Subway—until it closed on April 29.

A complete remodel of the space, including food stations and a Chick-fil-A, was scheduled to be completed by Fall 2019. In a conversation with Chartwells, FIU’s food vendor, they said the food court was expected to re-open on Monday, Sep. 9.

But Sep. 9 came and went with no word from the University on the progress of the Bistro, and students went hungry yet again.

The lack of food options at BBC was a problem before the food court underwent renovations. Aside from only three restaurants in the cafeteria, the only other options were the Starbucks at the Hubert Library and the grab-and-go items in the bookstore. In the past, restaurants have also closed notoriously early; Burger 305 used to close at 3 p.m. while Moe’s and Subway closed at 5 p.m., leaving students who stayed late on campus with little options.

The addition of the Beefsteak food truck in February 2019 provided students with more vegetarian options, although the truck was only available on certain days and for a few hours.

Now that neither of these are open on campus, BBC has been offering other food options, such as rotating food trucks and Roary’s Bay Buffet, to satisfy hungry students.

The buffet is open from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. for breakfast, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch, and 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for dinner. The food trucks operate from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch. The FIU site says food trucks are available at 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for dinner, but so far, their schedule has been inconsistent. 

Even so, the current food options are limited to students who are free during these times; for those whose schedules don’t coincide with the food truck or buffet’s hours of operation, there’s very little to eat. This is especially detrimental to students who live on campus or those who may not have reliable transportation to eat outside of campus. 

Students complained about the lack of food options compared to the Modesto Maidique Campus prior to Spring 2019, as the variety and availability of restaurants at BBC have always been few and far between. 

Unless you enjoy eating paninis or overpriced microwavable burritos everyday for lunch, BBC has been, and continues to be, devoid of nutritious meals.

The need for food options at BBC should be a priority to the University. Finishing the redesigned food court would help solve this problem, and improve the quality of life students who live and attend BBC experience.