Roary’s Bay Cafe: late for class on time for midterms 

Brea Jones/PantherNOW

By: Valentina Palm/Asst. News Director

 

The new food court at Biscayne Bay Campus was late for class but opened right on time for midterm exams.

Roary’s Bay Cafe was expected to open the first week of fall semester but due to construction delays it opened earlier this week on Monday, Oct. 14.

Before, the BBC food court had 305 Burger, Subway and Moe’s. Now, there is a grill and pizza station, a salad and smoothie bar and ‘home cooking’ entree and side options.

However, students will have to wait until January for Chick-fil-a to open.

“This is the benefit of taking a retail food court and the residential dining facility like 

8th St. Campus Kitchen and combine them together,” said Paul Johnson, the Chartwells resident district manager.

“People go there for an entree and side and here it’s part of that package, an entree, three sides and a drink but if a student is cost conscious, they can come in and buy a side for $1.99 so it’s options, it’s flexibility,” said Johnson.

FIU contracted Chartwells, the world’s largest food service company, last year to provide food options on both campuses. For the company, renovating the BBC food court was a priority, according to Johnson. 

Pool tables are available for recreational use at the new lounge area. Brea Jones/PantherNOW

The lack of food options, limited hours of operations and an uninviting atmosphere were the main factors fuelling the renovation, according to Johnson. 

“We revitalized it and we made this space go from ‘blah’ to ‘’wow’,” said Johnson

Chartwells created a new menu with several stations to give students more food options and the changed old cafeteria tables at BBC with a “pantherized” blue and yellow lounge with pool tables, tvs and a mini market selling snacks like to-go sandwiches and parfaits.

Interior renovations to the BBC food court were also needed to create a comfortable space for students to eat, study and decompress form class, according to Paige Crane, the Chartwells BBC marketing director.

“We wanted to make it comforting for students so they don’t feel like they are in a highschool cafeteria, they are in a college setting,”  said Crane. “We wanted students to come here and study and be able to hang out and want to be here.” 

Chartwells offered students a hallway buffet and food trucks while the food court was under construction but for some students the options were lacking.

“I wasn’t eating very much,” said Austin Cunningham, a journalism senior who attended the Roary’s Bay Cafe inauguration. “But this is nice. It’s convenient and the price is good for everything you get and I was impressed by how it was fresh to taste.”

Roary’s Buffet was set up in a Wolf Center hallway offering a regular and vegetarian meal during blocks of two hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner but for some students, the hours conflicted with their classes.

“The timing never worked out for me,” said Cunningham.“By the time I got there at 2:30pm they stopped giving food and I had to go to outside of campus to grab something small to eat.”

A variety of food trucks such as Tropical Oasis Exp, Cuban Guys and BBQ Chef Holmes parked on BBC’s Panther Plaza for lunch and dinner but students complained food sold in trucks was too expensive for their budgets.

“The food trucks are expensive, when I saw the price when they first started I was like no way, what am I gonna do?” said marine Biology freshman Mario Chavez between bites of his Roary Bay Cafe cheeseburger. “This is way better because we also have healthy options that I’ll try, eventually.”

Brea Jones/PantherNOW

For Ana Solar the 8th Street Campus Kitchen at the Modesto Maidique Campus and Roary’s Bay Cafe are very similar but believes the new BBC food court gives her more options

“Over there I just go when I’m very hungry because there if you want a little bit of food you’re still paying the $10,” said Solar. “Here, you can choose what you want and if you want to change it, you can and you pay accordingly.”

Some students like Public Relations alumni Sofia Perez will miss Moe’s and Burger 305.

“You aren’t really able to pick the restaurant that you want but at the same time, it’s efficient, especially when there’s a lot of students and the food is just as good and it’s a lot cheaper than what you probably would get at the restaurants,” said Perez.

For Johnson, the renovation was more about improving the student experience than just changing food options.

“We want students to come here in the evening, past seven o’clock, but we need to give them a place where they can congregate,” said Johnson. “They can play video games, they can watch TV, they can play pool and what goes well with that, is food.”

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