More campus dining options, extended hours slated for fall

Campus dining options are looking better for the fall than they did last year when a national labor shortage hampered UB’s ability to find enough food-service workers.

An influx of new hires gives UB the flexibility to provide students with more dining choices and hours as the fall semester begins, says Eric Blackledge, executive director, Campus Dining & Shops.

A July job fair attracted some 50 applicants, most of whom were hired as full-time cashiers, cooks, servers and dishwashers, Blackledge says. The full-time staff will be supplemented with a waiting list of students ready to work at least two shifts a week, he says.

“We have seen some relief,” says Blackledge, “and I think we’re in a much better position than we were last year.”

Changes for the fall include:

One World, located in the heart of the North Campus, will introduce three new food stations — The 1846 Grill, Pan Asian and The Noodle Pavilion.

They will join Kali Orexi and Tikka Table, which were brought online when the international eatery opened last spring.

The 1846 Grill, offering traditional North American comfort food, will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The other four food stations will open from 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Breakfast returns to Crossroads Culinary Center, located in Red Jacket on the Ellicott Complex, after last year’s staffing shortages allowed UB’s largest dining facility to remain open only for dinner.

C3, as it is known, will be open for breakfast from 7 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. and for dinner from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

All-day dining will be available at Crossroads from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

The Bowl, where customers can create their own salad, grain or noodle bowls, will reopen this year from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Ellicott Food Court. Staffing shortages kept the popular eatery closed during the 2021-22 academic year.

The popular bowl concept at Ellicott will be added back to the menu at the Harriman Café on the South Campus.

The Harriman Café will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays.

Catering to students with food sensitives and allergies, the Governors Dining Center has added a Simple Kitchen.

The space, constructed over the summer within Governors, is stocked with many food products free from gluten and other common food allergens so students can quickly and easily prepare meals in a safe, enclosed environment.

It’s UB’s second Simple Kitchen; the first is at Goodyear Dining Center on the South Campus.

The convenience store in the Ellicott Complex was reset to include some over-the-counter medications and health and beauty aids to help make up for last year’s closing of the CVS in the UB Commons.