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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Few issues reported for new J Street

Three weeks after the first major revamp of campus dining since 2007 went public, University officials said students’ main concern with the new J Street is slow service at the Metro Diner.

Managing Director of Campus Support Services Nancy Haaga said the diner has added an express checkout for students purchasing prepared items to alleviate congestion at meal times.

“Overall, the response has been very positive,” Rich Yokeley, director of campus dining for Sodexo, said.

The Metro Diner is the most popular new addition to J Street, Yokeley said, attracting about 800 to 900 customers each day.

Haaga said the diner is experiencing longer than desired wait times due to huge student demand for the cook-to-order grill.

The goal is to create a “fast-casual restaurant,” where customers receive their food five to seven minutes after they order, Yokeley said.

Ben Leighton, the chair of the Student Dining Board, said that the influx of students at the diner reflects a desire for cook-to-order dining over hot bar dining.

“A problem that you want to have is that something is too popular,” Leighton said.

The food court, previously notorious for high prices and limited options, has been a top concern for campus groups like the Student Dining Board and the Student Association.

Once Haaga and her colleagues started talking to students last fall in preparation for improvements, she said they realized “it really was going to require a much more broad, sweeping transformation” to adhere to student needs.

Haaga said one prominent complaint she heard from students when they started planning the remodeling was that J Street felt “very chaotic.”

“You no longer have this sense that you have all of these disparate and disconnected venues. You sort of have this huge space where everything works together,” Haaga said.

This article was updated Sept. 15 to reflect the following:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported that GW was going to add an express lane to the Metro Diner. That lane has already been added.

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