Fusion Market will be closing to accommodate for a larger Starbucks. The Fusion menu will be integrated into Mary Jemison’s food stations and around campus (Emma Boskovski/News editor).
Campus Auxiliary Services has decided to expand Starbucks into what is currently Fusion Market with a complete renovation. The renovation is expected to begin in the summer of 2020 and be finished by the fall of 2020.
According to CAS, a 10-year contract was signed with Starbucks that expires in the spring of 2020.
“We intend to renew that contract,” Pamela Connor, interim co-executive director for CAS said. “With that renewal comes a requirement to remodel. In response to feedback from students, faculty and staff we have decided to restructure the facility and actually enlarge the space. In order to do that, we need to relocate it.”
According to Connor, the project will move Starbucks into the Fusion Market space to create a much larger serving area.
“In doing so we will be able to increase some offerings like Starbucks nitro coffees,” Connor said. “We can actually create a bit of a seating space into what will be a fuller Starbucks cafe experience in that area.”
Connor said the Fusion Market will be no longer exist at the conclusion of the spring 2020 semester.
“We will be integrating the concepts currently in Fusion Market into Mary Jemison,” Connor said. “Mary Jemison is our oldest facility at this point since it hasn’t been remodeled the longest. It kind of needs a refresh. The menu needs a little reboot.”
According to CAS, the sandwiches at Clio’s will be incorporated into Levinson’s Deli, Asada and Lotus will be placed in downstairs Mary Jemison and the Diverse World Kitchen offerings will continue to be served throughout campus.
“It is still up for decision right now if Mary Jemison will have longer hours,” Connor said. “We are taking all of the data from the current year that we can gather and reviewing our options, in collaboration with what best fits student needs.”
Connor said that upon analyzing student feedback, there was an apparent pattern that certain concerns were overwhelmingly valuable to students.
“We always want to adapt based on student feedback,” Connor said. “Whenever we do student surveys, which we do in November, we try and analyze that feedback. In the past couple of years, we have received feedback that the lines are too long at Starbucks and Fusion and that the service is too slow. And online ordering is great, but we can’t accommodate for all of it.”
According to Connor, CAS plans to increase online ordering.
“Seeing our staff as they’re trying to do all of these online orders, they’re kind of stepping on each other’s toes,” Connor said. “With all of this taken into consideration, the idea to renovate and expand Starbucks came about. Our need to accommodate student feedback brought about renovation, and the timing of our contract renewal with Starbucks provided opportunity.”
Connor said the new Starbucks will include an online ordering pickup section where World Kitchen is currently located in Fusion.
“The space Starbucks currently occupies will be turned into a Smart Market, provided by our vending partner, Crinkler,” Connor said.
According to CAS, this unique style of vending will provide students with expanded product offerings, which will include fresh, local and nutritious meal options as well as vending snacks like sodas, candy and chips.
“Basically, how it works is that you will swipe your card and a door will open,” Connor said. “You can actually pick your product off of weighted shelves. Anything that you pick up off of that shelf will be billed to your card. If you put the item back before you close the door, you will not be charged.”
The meal options in the Smart Market will be provided by what Connor calls a “lean light line” of foods provided by Rochester-based Project Lean Nation.
“Lean Nation is a meal prep service, but they actually have a lean light with prepared meals versus giving you the ingredients,” Connor said. “Our vendor has the ability to connect with them and actually give us some of their meals to be put into the Smart Market. We might have some local vendor options, some healthier options and some unique things to put in there to provide meals with substance.”
According to Connor, the Smart Market will be accessible to students whenever the College Union is open.
Charles Matthews, senior director of Student Life, said he believes the renovation will not take away from heart of the College Union, but rather provide more effectively allocated space for students to utilize.
“You have to think about where we are as a society,” Matthews said. “We go to Starbucks as a commuting process. We don’t go to wait in very long lines. I really think that this renovation will align with where we are as a community and prove to be more efficient.”
Matthews said that the new Starbucks will provide more seating which will equate to more study space to better accommodate the campus community.
“This renovation should mitigate some of the line to some degree,” Matthews said. “When you go to Starbucks, you think of some of the other places with a more developed menu. This will allow us to provide that for the campus.”