Liberty Rolls Out On-Campus Dining Changes for New Academic Year

With the start of a new school year, changes have been made to Liberty’s dining menu across campus and will not only give students different food options, but also a change in scenery.

On East Campus, the new Slim Chickens restaurant replaced Doc’s Diner. Though Doc’s Diner had been the only diner-style restaurant on campus since 2008, Duke Davis, the district manager for Sodexo, felt that replacing it was long overdue. 

“We felt that Doc’s had run its course and it was time for a change,” Davis said. “We found Slim Chickens while attending a trade show and spent a lot of time with their sales team to introduce us to their brand.” 

Not only did Slim Chickens impress Davis, but students also enjoyed its flavor. 

“We also brought them here two years ago to hold a student tasting in the Food Court at Reber-Thomas, where students could try their signature chicken tenders and sauces and then submit feedback,” Davis said. “It was a home run. Our goal was to get it open for last year’s academic year, but COVID-19 set us back, so we had to push it to this year.” 

The second change came as two dining locations switched places: the Starbucks formerly located in the Jerry Falwell Library, and Argo Tea formerly location in Montview Student Union.

“Starbucks in the library was due to be renovated to the new model based on our contract with Starbucks, but there was not enough space in its [former] location to do so,” Davis said. 

They had to find a new location to accommodate the increase in service for more students than the old location. Davis said the Montview location gives students greater access to Starbucks. 

“Currently the lines are long, but that’s also because our staff is still learning and developing their efficiency at the new location,” he said. “I’m very confident that in a few weeks the team there will be working more efficiently.”

The third change comes as Grubhub, a popular food delivery service that worked with dining locations across campus last year to provide takeout options, will be replaced with the LU Eats app.

This app will allow students to order food on their phones for pick up. Davis hopes this will eliminate both the long lines and the additional fees that came with ordering through Grubhub.

Gambino is a news reporter.