Students looking for a midnight snack from The Loop may now be restricted to just that-midnight.
Instead of being open until 2 a.m. every night, The Loop will only maintain those hours Thursday through Saturday and will now close at midnight Sunday through Wednesday. The restaurant announced its shortened hours Tuesday.
"During the first half of the week, it's been really slow after midnight, and it's gotten to the point where we just don't need to be open that late," The Loop owner Dennis Lane said.
The restaurant will stay open later near the end of the week because there is usually more traffic and more students tend to be out past midnight, Lane said, adding that the diner will also have later hours on game nights and during exam week.
Lane said the presence of The Loop cart on the Plaza and late hours were taking a toll on labor hours and revenue.
"It's something that we needed to do because it makes no sense to keep people there until 2 a.m. when there's no one coming in," he said. "We have to have a grill person, a pizza person, a register person, a dishwasher person-and having that many people to do that one order of french fries at 1 a.m. isn't making ends meet."
Some students said the new hours do not meet their late-night snacking needs.
"It'll really affect my studying because I don't want to have to go to McDonald's since that's the only other option that's open that late-it's greasy and kind of unhealthy," sophomore Anthony Sanderson said. "Especially that late at night, I want sustainable energy."
Sophomore Joe Catapano, however, said he is not a night owl and does not feel strongly about the new hours.
"It doesn't make much of a difference to me because I don't eat that late-I don't generally get food after 10," he said.
Still, a number of students, including junior Nimit Lad, appeared to be concerned that McDonald's would be the only late-night option on campus.
"I'm outraged," Lad said. "I can't believe they're doing this to me-there's already a limited amount of stuff to eat-what are they doing? It reduces options later at night when you're trying to get food other than McDonald's because sometimes, I just don't want McDonald's."
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