Juice bar, pizza, subs to come to East Campus

The Class of 2012 may never experience the pains and pleasures of a Marketplace-centered diet on East Campus.

Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst and the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee are planning three new dining initiatives to increase eating options on East for Fall 2008.

Plans are underway for a Quenchers-like juice bar in Brodie Recreation Center, a 24-hour diner in the space above the Marketplace and a late-night pizza-and-sub station inside the East Union Building.

The juice bar in Brodie has been an ongoing project for several years and was recently designated an official space inside the gym, Wulforst said.

"The good news is that I can't imagine that we're not going to move forward with [the juice bar] and have a Quenchers-like operation on East Campus," he said.

The juice bar has been in the work for years. Wulforst told The Chronicle in March 2004 that the bar could open in Fall of that year; later, the bar was set for an opening at the beginning of this academic year.

The location-which would offer fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods-could help reduce the typical freshman-year weight gain, freshman Priya Mehta said.

The Brodie location would also be a much closer option than Quenchers for students living on East, Wulforst said.

The major problem with getting this 24-hour eating establishment open was finding adequate space on East, said DUSDAC Co-chair David McMullen, a junior.

Dining Services recently reached an arrangement with current users of the space to permanently free up the rooms above the Marketplace for the diner, Wulforst said.

"We try to get the most out of the East Union space because we are really limited in the space that we have on campus for dining," McMullen said.

The third plan for new dining on East is to open a late-night pizza, calzone and sub station inside the Marketplace.

The area would serve food until 2 or 3 a.m. as an option for freshmen with the late-night munchies, Wulforst explained. In addition to providing food, a designated dining area would be open for diners to eat and hang out in.

"[The diner] could help reduce safety issues like going to places off campus late at night for food," Mehta said.

Other freshmen, however, said they would rather use the wide variety of dining places just off East.

"If I were to come home late I would probably go to Cosmic or Dominos instead of the Marketplace," Cheng said.

All three East Campus dining establishments will be built this summer and serve students by Fall 2008, Wulforst said.