Ania Boutin
Contributing Writer
aboutin@murraystate.edu
Following feedback from students requesting more culinary options, Murray State Dining Services will partner with local restaurants to bring new food options to campus.
David Blank, field marketing specialist for Dining Services, announced Dining’s Retail Takeover plan at a Residential College Association meeting on March 28.
Blank said the Retail Takeover will involve different local restaurants coming to campus every Wednesday and taking over a dining location in the Thoroughbred Room, known informally as the “T-Room.”
He said the restaurants will offer meals from a limited menu to students who will be able to pay either with their credit cards, Flex money or with a combination of a meal exchange and Flex money.
Flex is money included on a student’s meal plan that they can spend at any dining location on campus.
Freshman English education major Sadie Boggs shared positive feedback on the idea for this new program.
“I think the idea of local restaurants catering food every now and then sounds great,” Boggs said. “It would mean more future business for them and a lot of delicious variety on campus.”
Retail Takeover is the most recent addition to a string of pop-ups Dining has been offering students in an effort to bring new flavors to campus.
One of Dining’s latest pop-ups included a partnership with the International Student Office in which dishes from Spain, Japan, South Korea, India and Saudi Arabia were available for dinner at Winslow Dining Hall.
Blank said Retail Takeover was designed as the next logical step in expanding these pop-up opportunities.
“We want to find opportunities to give the students more,” Blank said. “We’ve done all of these great things on campus, such as bringing in all of these new retail locations, reimplementing the Pony Express and having events here at Winslow.”
Blank said that when Retail Takeover events are happening, one of the T-Room restaurants will close, letting their space be used by the visiting restaurant. He said he understands this might cause some confusion and recognizes how important communication will be in the first few weeks of Retail Takeover.
“We will be promoting, so people will know if Sub Connections is going to be closed next Wednesday,” Blank said. “If someone wakes up really wanting a sub, they’ll know that we will have something a little bit different but still a good offering.”
To get students familiar with the format for Retail Takeover, Dining hosted the first Retail Takeover itself, taking over the Tres Habaneros location in the Curris Center to offer Vietnamese noodles prepared by Dining employees.
Dining transitioned into its schedule of visiting restaurants with one of its Retail Takeovers, which was hosted by Goldenrod Cafe on April 13.
Blank said partnering with chain restaurants is not the goal, and Dining’s chef is working with the marketing department to find local Murray restaurants that would benefit from more patronage, especially from the University’s student population.
“We want to support the local Murray community, so we are trying to increase their pool of influence and get the knowledge out about those places,” Blank said. “We are working to bring some local offerings from the community that students may not be aware of.”
While students seemed to appreciate the new culinary options, they did have some concerns after attending the first Retail Takeover.
“I was incredibly excited to learn about the … Retail Takeover at Tres,” said freshman Spanish major Erin Fairweather. “It was a fun, unique change from the somewhat repetitive meals on campus. I’m definitely glad Dining is bringing more options to campus. However, the event could’ve been designed to be purchased by a meal exchange alone, not requiring Flex.”
Blank said while feedback wasn’t completely positive, the opportunity for students to speak their minds and outline what they’d like to see changed at future events can be extremely helpful.
“We’re always open for suggestions, exhibiting that we are listening to students and hearing their feedback,” Blank said. “They wanted to see new things, and we’re acting on that.”
Blank said he encourages students to reach out anytime to share feedback and suggestions for improvement. He said student input will be key in planning future Retail Takeover events.
For more information about Retail Takeover, contact Blank at david.blank2@sodexo.com. For more information about upcoming RCA meetings, contact Vice President of Leadership and Development Nicholas Novotka at nnovatka@murraystate.edu.