It was good news that construction was finally completed at the center of campus, but it was bad news for some students that the Snack Shack in San Gabriel Plaza had closed and the hot dog stand had cut back hours.
“It was convenient,” said Lee Helberg. “I preferred it when they had it [the Snack Shack] in the SG building. When we have a 10-minute break, I can’t get chips or anything anymore.”
The Snack Shack, now called CJ’s, is now in Plaza Vaquero. The San Gabriel location was only a temporary location until the construction was complete, said Candice J. Walker, manager of Food Services.
“You could barely get in and out of that Snack Shack,” said Walker. “It was certainly not customer friendly. It was only a temporary set-up.”
According to Walker, there will be another snack bar near the SG Plaza once the Physics/Biology building is re-built in the distant future; however, there are no immediate plans to open a temporary service in that area, and plans to build the new science building are not yet set.
Due to chilly nights and staffing limitations, the hot dog stand in the SG Plaza is temporarily only open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hours will probably be extended once the weather warms up, said Walker.
“If there’s people who support it, we’ll keep it open longer,” she said. “We know that serving the students is our number one priority, but in order to have a business there, everything needs to make dollars and sense.”
Despite these inconveniences, the food services, including the newly reopened Casa Ortega and Subway, are better and faster, students have said.
“I really like the new food court,” said Danielle Foster, Vice President of Campus Relations. “We have Subway and Casa Ortega back, which I’m a big fan of. They give more variety of food.”
A new Chinese fast-food eatery, Pacific Rim, is set to open in early March next to Subway.
The food court and CJ’s are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Friday, CJ’s maintains the same hours, while the food court closes at 2 p.m.
For those who have class on Saturdays, only CJ’s and Casa Ortega are in service from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Subway is closed.