Tulane University Dining Services expects to open two new dining concepts in The Village, the living-learning space that includes Lake and River residence halls. The first is called Eat Now and will be located in The Small Family Collaboration Hub. The second new dining concept is Shake Smart, which will be located under River Hall.

Eat Now and Shake Smart are set to open for the fall 2024 academic semester. Tulane Dining Services has already introduced two new dining options to the Lavin-Bernick Center this year, Pei Wei and Wildflower Kitchen. 

Wesly Turnage, the campus general manager of Sodexo, described Eat Now as similar to Provisions on the Thirtieth Parallel, but larger and with contact-free payment. 

Eat Now “provides a market style, frictionless shopping experience where you can walk in, scan, then walk out with your chosen items,” Turnage said. 

It “will offer a variety of nutritious and allergen-free products, in addition to the usual items you would find in a convenience store,” John Lange, assistant vice president of dining services, said.  

Lange also said that the Eat Now store will replace Provisions once it opens. 

“Eat Now autonomous market on campus will address the demand of today’s society wanting a touchless, fast, and efficient checkout process,” Lange said. 

Other colleges have also started to introduce autonomous grocery stores. Sodexo, in partnership with retail company AiFi, launched their Eat Now concept at the University of Denver earlier this year.

Shake Smart is the second new dining concept coming to The Village. Shake Smart will offer items such as smoothies, bowls and other nutritious items. 

Shake Smart addresses “Tulane students’ dining requests of wanting a cleaner, more nutritious, allergen-free fast-food option,” Lange said. 

Shake Smart is a national vendor which currently has locations on other college campuses such as the University of Arizona, the University of Alabama and Florida State University. Shake Smart’s website features foods including acai bowls, sandwiches and oatmeal. Its drinks include coffee and a variety of healthy shakes.

Shake Smart was started by two college students, Kevin Gelfand and Martin Reinman. It was launched as a response to a lack of healthy food on campus. The founders noticed students struggled to find food past 7 p.m. or before 10 a.m. They launched Shake Smart at their own university, San Diego State University, when they were juniors. In 2017, the company reported revenue exceeding $3.6 million. 

The project timeline originally called for these dining services to open at the same time as River and Lake Hall. According to John Lange, the opening of these dining options were delayed due to “challenges beyond the university’s control.”