Littlefield Patio Cafe and Cypress Bend Cafe are extending their weekday and weekend hours of operation beginning Monday to give students another space on campus to study and dine at.
Littlefield Patio Cafe now stays open two hours later until 9 p.m. on weekdays, and is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, according to Cailin Rosborough, the associate director of marketing communications at University Housing and Dining. She said Cypress Bend Cafe’s weekday operating hours follow Littlefield’s, but on weekends will only be open on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Rosborough said the changes in operation hours provide more options for the campus community and students to dine at.
“With extending these operations, it gives students the dining options in these places which are in a residence hall (zone like Cypress), and Littlefield is in an area with a lot of residence halls,” Rosborough said. “This gives students a place to go meet friends (and) study. (It) also gives them dining options that are open later.”
Emily Atkins, a journalism freshman who lives in Littlefield Hall, said she feels content about the cafes’ extended hours.
“Last semester, I was going two or three times a week probably, or just to study in the mornings too,” Atkins said.
She said she looked forward to the prospect of having more spaces to study on campus besides libraries.
“I really liked (Littlefield Patio Cafe),” Atkins said. “It’s very quiet and comfortable, and it’s a good place to study, and now that’s gonna be open later, I’m sure I’ll be in there a lot more.”
However, political communications sophomore Emma Rohr said she worries about the changes in operation hours. She said as a closing shift manager for Littlefield Patio Cafe, the extended hours would affect her time spent studying.
“Usually when I get off work, I’d be able to come back to my room and get homework done,” Rohr said. “But since I have to be closing (later), it’s going to affect my time that I have to do my homework and do my classwork.”
Rohr said some student employees who originally worked the closing shift had to change their work schedule, which also impacts how long it takes to close.
To accommodate these needs, University Housing and Dining “created new evening and weekend shifts based on the expansion of hours and hired new employees to work during these shifts,” according to a follow-up email statement from Rosborough.
Rosborough said she hopes these changes will help serve the students’ and campus’ needs by providing more dining options.
“We really like to give our campus community a variety of options,” Rosborough said. “This just adds to the options that are already available.”
