Dear AU Community,  

We are excited to welcome everyone back with a significantly improved campus dining program. Over the past 18 months, our teams have been focused on implementing the plan to transform the on-campus dining experience. Last year, we renovated and launched the firsts in a series of new dining venues including Halal Shack, Baba’s Pizza, and True Burger. We also prepared for the move of the Campus Store by moving Eagle’s Nest across the Tunnel, and with your help we renamed it Eagle Express. During the spring, we held more than 40 stakeholder meetings across the campus to get your feedback and input on a complete meal plan overhaul, the first in more than 20 years.  

This past summer, we completed the construction and renovation of additional venues, including Panera, Starbucks, and Subway. Panera will host soft openings this week and open fully in the coming days, and Qdoba will be open in the next few weeks as we finalize permits, inspections, and training work. In the meantime, we will host special Qdoba promotions and events for the community in the Tavern and outside Qdoba. You can read more about the efforts to construct these venues here, including before and after photos, and some throwback photos to former venues the Tunnel once hosted. 

Our efforts this summer also included several improvements in the Terrace Dining Room including new espresso and rotisserie stations, and the return of our popular soft-serve and frozen yogurt machine. We are also excited to share that new café and study furniture will be delivered and installed later this week for the spaces in front of and adjacent to the new Panera. The new furniture is part of a pilot program between AU Kitchen and our Office of Space Planning and Management team that leverages the university’s relationship with the furniture company, Steelcase. The café space will feature placards with QR codes to a survey that we are asking all community members to complete as they use the new furniture. The data collected will help inform Student Thriving Project furniture selections.  

These changes are exciting and, as this year progresses, we will continue to share information regularly with the AU community about our efforts. While our initial efforts were focused on overhauling technology, meal plans, and improving the venues and offerings of our dining program, our final phases of work are designed to improve the sense of community across our campus eateries. Everyone can expect various special events, such as the AU Kitchen-RHA Welcome Back Block Party last week, a new faculty and staff U-Club, and more Farm-to-Table offerings from our Airlie Berkshire Farm. Later in the fall, we will also make a major announcement about the future of the Terrace Dining Room.  

We invite the AU community to contact us at mealplans@american.edu with questions or comments, and you can find more information about our dining program online at https://dineoncampus.com/au.   

Onward we go, together!  

Bronté Burleigh-Jones
Chief Financial Officer, Vice President, and Treasurer

Michael Scher
Assistant Vice President, Campus Auxiliary Services and Airlie  

Ann Marie Powell
Sr. Director Dining and Auxiliary Services