Sodexo, Tulane’s dining services provider, renovated the DrawingBoard Caf?© this summer in collaboration with students and facultyat the School of Architecture, where the caf?© is located.

Changes include a new menu board, a fresh coat of paint and newmachinery. The caf?© aims to provide quick and convenient meals forbusy students in the academic quad.

“The Drawing Board has always been kind of a temporary facility,and the equipment that was in there was always temporaryequipment,” said Thomas Beckman, general manager of TulaneUniversity dining by Sodexo. “We’re trying to make it a little morepermanent.”

These changes are the first upgrades for the caf?© since at leastthe 1990s.

The caf?© offers speed and convenience through the Bruff-to-Goprogram, now in its third year.

“Bruff-to-Go is designed for students who want to take food withthem instead of sitting down at Bruff for a full meal,” said BenHartley, the resident district manager for on-site servicesolutions by Sodexo.

Students receive a premade sandwich, salad, side and beveragewith a swipe of a splash card. The caf?© also offers other itemsincluding fresh fruit, snacks and breakfast items.

“I go there probably three days per week,” junior KatherineSchuff said. “My main complaint was the hours. I wish it was openlonger. But I like the quality of the food, especially thesandwiches.”

Though Schuff has not yet seen the renovations, she said she willnow be happier about eating there so often.

The changes to the Drawing Board Caf?© reflect a campus-wide shiftin Tulane’s dining options. While regional and seasonal foods arenothing new at Tulane, menus across campus will see even more ofthese foods. Seasonal dining changes will focus on seafood, with ageneral increase in regional foods.

“When we look at Louisiana regional food, it’s driven by theseasons,” said Beckman, who was named one of the top 25 chefs inLouisiana by the American Culinary Foundation.

Some changes are already in place. In the Lavin-Bernick Center,Einstein’s Bagels was outfitted with new frozen coffee drinks. InBruff Commons, more changes are on the way.

“We’re looking at putting boxed salads up there, and maybehaving two refrigerated areas where you can just grab a boxed saladand you can put fresh toppings on it, so you can build your ownsalad – like a salad bar, except on the run,” Beckman said.

Vegetarian options will also be revamped when Bruff introduces astation serving exclusively food from New Orleans for the firsttime since Hurricane Katrina.

Freshman

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