After its initial opening in winter quarter, Cal Poly’s new dining complex, 1901 Marketplace, has provided students with additional areas to eat and study. According to Director of Campus Dining Jess Dozier, 1901 Marketplace instantly became the third preferred space for the campus community.
“Our goal has been to add more spaces for the community to not only eat in but also gather in. We are thrilled that the space has been adopted so quickly,” Dozier said in a written statement.
Physics sophomore Annie Chambers comes to 1901 Marketplace roughly once a week to study and meet up with friends. Chambers felt that initially, 1901 Marketplace was too busy to find an area to work, but said it has since slowed down.
“I feel like this became the new study space with the loss of the library,” Chambers said.
With the new dining hall, it has welcomed several new chain restaurants including Chick-fil-a and Panda Express. While online on Grubhub initially, Chick-fil-a has been restricted to in-person ordering only to decrease the number of orders at one time.
“We hope to work the Grubhub (GH) feature back in, but it will take some adjustments by the campus community as it is different than the way students traditionally place and receive their orders,” Dozier said. “The Kiosks help the flow of orders very efficiently now, but we understand that GH helps avoid being in a physical line to order.”
Ordering online will not be offered initially at the recently opened Panda Express to prevent overwhelming orders of food at once.
“The reason for this is to mitigate the volumes and speed of service as the team becomes more efficient. Even with a lot of planning, training and support, it takes some time to be efficient while also producing exceptional food,” Dozier said.
The recent opening of Panda Express has additionally added more part-time jobs. According to Dozier, there are now 325 part-time jobs available within 1901 Marketplace.
Environmental engineering junior Hailey Bui comes to 1901 Marketplace roughly twice a week starting spring quarter. She originally came to get food, but now chooses to study in 1901 Marketplace as well due to it being less busy compared to the University Union, she said.
“It is pretty loud, so like if you don’t have noise-canceling headphones, it’s not a great spot,” Bui said.
1901 Marketplace has additionally seen success through the introduction of reusable containers for food.
“It has been very well received and we have plans to add a rewards program and expand into other venues as we continue to add to our sustainability strategies,” Dozier said. “The more we can reduce our impact on the waste we send to the community services we will always explore.”