Winthrop University Dining Services Markley’s at the Center and the Eagle Eatery in Thomson Hall have received new dining facilities and upgrades since the Spring 2022 semester.
Triple G’s Garnet and Gold Grill, is the new and improved name for The Grill, and will continue to offer cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, grilled chicken sandwiches, French fries and more. Helen Hoban, general manager for Sodexo at Winthrop, said the store’s renaming was meant to make the dining option “more Winthrop.”
The Crust is a new pizza-centered diner that is able to make golden crust pizzas using the in-house pizza oven that is now able to be temperature regulated. The pizza oven was present in previous years, but it is now being used for the first time this semester.
After listening to student feedback and testing out new ideas like a baked potato bar last year, Tres Habaneros has been replaced with Flip it!, which will rotate its menu option every two weeks with new and exciting “culinary concepts”. The new diner is currently serving burritos. Hoban said Sodexo Marketing Manager Roxy Flory will put out a survey at the end of the semester to see what students liked best.
Vibes Juice Bar joined Markley’s at the Center this semester for the first time as a subcontracted business with Sodexo and is a sister location to Fresh Vibes Juice Bar & Coffee Shop on Ebenezer Road.
Fresh Vibes owner Mek McCrorey’s contract with Sodexo allows her to share the dining space previously occupied by Tres Habaneros with Flip It!, while being responsible for paying for its own inventory and deciding its own menu selection.
In the Eagle Eatery at Thomson Hall, a small coffee bar and lounge area has been set up in the same area as the Vegan food station and cereal bar. Hoban said the area was set up over the summer to be a “nicer place for students to hang out.”
“Thompson is really a hangout place more than we ever thought it was,” Hoban said. “People are in here all during the day, at three o’clock in the afternoon. We just wanted to make part of it a little different, a little quieter, a little bit more casual.”
The gluten and nut free food area in the Eagle Eatery, previously named My Zone, has been changed to Simple Zone and is now also dairy free. Flory said the Simple Zone is still expanding its menu options and expects to have rice as well as gluten free waffles in the future.
All of the food prepared for the Simple Zone is cooked in a special area by a simple serving specialized cook so the food does not become contaminated with any of the aforementioned allergens.
