Last year, Puzzles Café, near Sproul Hall, was reopened with reduced options and hours, and the once-popular restaurant never regained its crowds.
To remedy Puzzles’ lack of popularity, some big changes will be made for the 2007-2008 school year, and other changes will be made to the Hill as well, mostly in the realm of dining.
Plans have been made for Puzzles to be completely changed into a new service, called the Sweet Shop, serving a variety of sweets and treats, said Michael Foraker, assistant vice chancellor of Business and Administrative Services for Housing and Hospitality.
Many students have expressed support for the Sweet Shop, including second-year computer science and engineering student Brett Inman.
“As far as desserts, the stuff at the dining halls is usually the same selection over and over again, so it would be nice to have something different, especially if you don’t want to swipe in just for dessert,” said Inman, who will live on the Hill for his second year.
Foraker said Housing and Hospitality Services was using student input to determine what new options to offer.
“Students have asked for, maybe, dessert pizzas and perhaps a reintroduction of some ice cream products to the Hill,” Foraker said.
The prospective dessert store may serve tea and coffee items, with particular attention to teas.
“Bruin Café is very popular with the coffee products, and we want to see a variety of teas ““ that may take place within (the old) Puzzles,” Foraker said.
Bruin Café is also set to undergo changes, including a new selection of pastries and desserts ““ almost all of the products will be made “in house,” he said, meaning that the pastries and desserts will be made in Bruin Café rather than delivered every day.
While the addition of so many sweets on the Hill leads to some concern over how much unhealthy food will be available, Inman said he believes nutrition is mostly contingent on students’ choices.
“There are healthy options, it just depends on what you decide to eat,” Inman said. “If you’re really strict with yourself, there’s plenty of healthy food, but it is tempting with some of the other things offered.”
Those who find the temptations of desserts and pastries too much may choose to bypass Puzzles and Bruin Café and stick with new options made within the dining halls.
More vegan and vegetarian options will be available, and a new kosher meal plan will be piloted in the fall, Foraker said.
“(The kosher meal plan) will be available only for dinner on Monday through Thursday at two of our anchor restaurants,” he said. “We’ve been working with students from the Muslim and Jewish community to find prepared foods from restaurants in the L.A. basin.”
There are also plans for future non-dining changes on the Hill.
“We’re updating our housing master plan, and we are trying to determine a path forward for the construction of approximately 1,500 new residence hall spaces,” Foraker said. “We don’t have anything approved, but we are well into the planning process.”
But Shannon Guerrero, a second-year student who will live on the Hill for her second year, expressed concern over how adding residence halls will affect life on the Hill.
“I have no idea where they would put them,” Guerrero said. “It would probably make parking even more ridiculous, and move-in and move-out is already really busy.”
She also wondered why Sproul Hall has not opened after its renovation in order to decrease crowding on the Hill.
Sproul Hall is being fully renovated and will be ready for occupancy by fall 2008, Foraker said. But following Sproul’s opening, Rieber Hall will be closed and renovated.
“We’re cycling through each of the four high-rise buildings,” he said. “So for the next several years, there will always be a high rise closed for renovation.”
Regardless of the closed residence halls, officials have said though the number of students living on the Hill for the 2007-2008 year has yet to be determined, they estimate it will be no more crowded than the previous year.