Students going to the Crimson Underground are in for a surprise. Stage lights now showcase bananas, desserts and a sandwich bar instead of a local performer. Waffle irons and cereal dispensers now occupy the space regularly used for computers.
These differences reflect the change that took place during the Winter Break.
More than 1,000 students who live in the residence halls were relocated to Austin, Ballif and Van Cott Halls while the Salt Lake Organizing Committee uses Heritage Commons to house Olympic athletes.
While the old dorms provide housing for U students, they do not provide adequate equipment and space to feed the 1,084 students who purchased meal plans for Spring Semester.
The dining services offered at the Heritage Center are now split up between the Union’s Crimson Underground and Ballif Hall.
The Crimson Underground provides the same options that the Heritage Center used to, including daily entrees, hamburgers and breakfast. Chartwells has expanded its selection to include wraps and an ethnic food bar as well.
Although the food selection is about the same, the seating has been significantly decreased.
“The main challenge with the Crimson Underground is that we only have seating for about 300 people, and we have more than 1,000 diners,” said Mike Paulus, Chartwells resident district manager.
In order to minimize the number of people dining at the Crimson Underground, Chartwells will not accept cash. Students must have a “block or student meal plan” in order to eat there. Students who want to bring non-resident friends with them to eat are encouraged to use their guest meal passes.
The other food venues in the Union will also offer transfer combos at every food retail station in the Union, including Pizza Hut and Chik-Fil-A.
The Crimson Underground will serve gourmet boxed lunches.
“If students feel the lines are too long or there isn’t enough seating, they can grab a box lunch,” he said.
At Ballif Hall, Chartwells has set up a convenience store, grab-and-go and limited entree selections. The seating in Ballif will only accommodate about 80 diners, Paulus said, so Chartwells is pushing for students to go to the Union for food.
The Ballif Hall C-Store offers a range of snack items, and because of the expanded space Ballif Hall offers, Chartwells has brought in more non-food items and microwave meals.
“Now students can purchase items they would get at Albertson’s here, except they can do it in their pajamas,” Paulus said.
One student wants to see the change made permanent.
“It’s better to have the food in the Union because we don’t have to trek all the way back up to the Heritage Center to eat,” said senior Brandon Dickerson, resident adviser. “I think they should have both the Crimson Underground and Heritage Commons open after the Olympics.”
Freshman Elisa Schumann agreed.
“It’s definitely more convenient to come [to the Crimson Underground],” she said.
Others were more indifferent to the change.
“The food is about the same, there really isn’t that big of a difference,” said freshman Elizabeth Hales.
While students are seemingly easing into the new dining areas, Chartwells employees had a much more difficult time bringing buildings up to code, finding space for diners and footing the bill for the upgrades.
“We had to leave all of the equipment up at the Heritage Center and then recreate the same dining experience with the available equipment, which was 40 years old,” Paulus said.
The cost for bringing Ballif Hall and the Crimson Underground up to code was extremely expensive, Paulus said. Due to contract stipulations, he was unable to say exactly how much money was spent, but said it was more than he had budgeted for. However, the U did pay for a large portion of the repairs.
“It really was a partnership between us and the U,” he said. “They helped get the ceilings, floors and electrical up to code.”
Chartwells will relocate to the Heritage Center on March 9, and provide meals while moving.
“I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we will,” he said.