On Tuesday, Sept. 3, Edward Martin, the retail dining operational manager at Squires Food Court explained the changes that students will face when dining there.  

Since the Union is no longer present, Old Main Market Place replaced Squires, once a dining hall to accommodate students like they once had and even more on a retail level. 

One big difference is how students can purchase their meals. 

“We have opened up to all board meals instead of just block meals,” Martin said, “to accommodate and help relieve pressure from the other dining areas, we welcome unlimited board meal plan users.”

 Martin follows that by explaining another big change.

 “We have placed a register at every concept instead of just having one area to pay because when we move back to the Union, we will have the same setup.” 

Even though the location has changed, they tried to stay with their previous food options.

“What we had at Old Main Market Place we translated directly here since our customers were familiar with the food options there,” Martin said, “We have the grill, very similar to A&W, Tossed Fresh Salads, Dakota Deli and a pizza concept. They were very popular at the Union, so we wanted to continue that experience here.” 

Keeping the same menu items, new items will be added as well.  

“We are working on creating a gourmet burger,” Martin said, “which allows students with a different option they might not be able to find around campus.” 

To help students, the buying experience is set up very similar to Old Main Market Place. The food is made-to-order and fresh every day. 

“The concept styles allow students to build their own meals,” Martin said, “which lets them pick and choose what they want as a meal.” 

This allows students to be opened to a menu every day.

The move came with some improvements as well. 

“Squires Food Court allows more seating for students as well as more space,” Martin said, “the seating itself is a lot better than Old Main Market Place since it is more updated.” 

The new space allows more students to be welcomed and served.

Squires Food Court is not only opened to students, but to everyone that comes in.  They welcome cash, card, checks and gift cards as well to be used to purchase meals.  For students with board meals, there is a nine-dollar limit, but can be combined with dining dollars or other forms of payments. They also provide a tax free $650 dining dollar plan for students to utilize.

Squires Food Court is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. providing students with breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week, Monday thru Friday. 

“Depending on traffic, we may have open hours on weekends as well, but right now we are sticking to five days a week,” Martin said.

Dining Services is looking to hire more friendly, compassionate and hardworking individuals to their team students and non-students.