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Hilltop Commons will celebrate its grand opening on Wednesday, Nov. 7, after four months of major reconstruction.
“It’s very exciting,” Claire Lint said, assistant dining service manager at the commons. “It’s a fun, student-oriented, customer service kind of place. We’re really here for the students and, without them, we wouldn’t have this great place to work.”
The grand opening ceremony will celebrate this newly renovated facility, all of the parties that were involved with the project and the student body. Glenn Taylor, executive chef for Black Bear Dining also noted that prizes will be drawn for students who eat at the commons throughout the day.
For the past three years, the building closed. It was stripped for remodeling in May, was complete Aug. 31, and now serves an average of 600-1000 students per meal. Funding for the project was provided by a revenue bond which, Taylor explained, is essentially a loan taken out by dining services.
Major modifications of the building include six venues for food options within the European-style kitchen that enables the culinary staff to cook more items as they are ordered by students, which provides fresher food.
Bruce Theriault, a culinary assistant at Hilltop, said one of the best new features of the facility is its circular design, which allows for more efficiency in serving students. “The lines are definitely shorter,” Theriault said, “which is a result of more options and a much better layout for the chefs.” Since food is prepared where students order it, it is fresher and comes faster, which allows culinary staff to do less running back and forth between the main kitchen and their station in the serving area.
Theriault also said that the new culinary equipment provides better tasting food and more choices for students, versus the cafeteria-style set up available in the old building.
“I hope that the difference is in customer satisfaction,” Taylor said. “Food that is prepared and finished in front of the customer with interaction from culinary staff hopefully makes customers feel like the food is prepared especially for them.”
Other changes to the program include an a la carte option for lunch, which allows students to purchase food items and take them outside of the facility. Students who are pressed for time are now able to bring food to their next destination or take it outside to the patio area. Lint said options like this are what make Hilltop Commons unique to other dining facilities on campus.
While it is the first to undergo such major reconstruction, Hilltop Commons isn’t the only dining facility that UMaine has renovated. Students will soon be able to enjoy a renovated Wells Commons, which, according to Taylor, includes several venues on the first floor including a wood-stove pizza venue, a multi-ethnic venue, a traditional serving venue, a bakery/coffee bar and a market. Furthermore, the second floor will have a conference center for catering.
Each year, Lint explained, each of the commons receive smaller “uplifts” that provide better and more pleasant dining experiences for students. “Hilltop,” Lint said, “was the first unit to be completely overhauled.”
“This is a very exciting time for Black Bear Dining,” Taylor said. “To have modern facilities to service all of our students, faculty and staff is just fabulous. Dining Services is committed to provide the highest quality of service.”
Bangor Daily News