Photos by: Scarlett Gully
Eagle Dining has recently gone through some pretty dramatic changes on Southern Miss’s Hattiesburg campus, including the addition of two new restaurants.
Lauren Brescher, the Aramark Marketing Manager for Eagle Dining, explained in a press release that the changes were designed to give campus goers a fresh perspective on dining options.
“It is so exciting to be able to offer some new options on campus this fall,” said Brescher. “Given what our students, faculty and staff went through in the last year, this has really given us all something to look forward to.”
Some of the changes to Eagle Dining are purely aesthetic. Workers are currently putting the finishing touches on Seymour’s newly redesigned dining area in the R.C. Cook Union. The Courtyard, a dining area across from the Cook Library, also got a freshly painted mural and updated seating options. Most of the on-campus restaurants now have a scannable QR code so patrons can figure out their respective menu and hours.
However, other changes have been far more drastic. The Fresh Food Company now has frozen drink options, joining the Hi-C and Vitamin Water machines installed last year. The Fresh is also in the middle of returning to normal functions in the wake of COVID-19, one of the major driving forces behind the Eagle Dining overhaul.
Zoca, a Mexican restaurant once housed in the International Center, has been entirely replaced by Bento Sushi. The physical Bento Sushi restaurant in the International Center offers a variety of Asian foods, including ramen, poke and bento boxes, for sale. Bento Sushi has also become a fixture at the various Provisions On Demand (POD) stations across campus, with daily meal deals available for each sushi variety.
“Students, faculty and staff are always looking for something new,” Brescher said. “Bento Sushi certainly helped us provide a food offering we didn’t [previously] have on campus.”
The Powerhouse also got a complete redesign. Now known as the “Southern Wing Company”, patrons can eat wings and burgers inside a recently expanded restaurant, now decked out with massive posters of Southern Miss student athletes. It is also the first on-campus restaurant to sell beer, though it is only available to customers after 5:30 p.m.
“It [The Southern Wing Company] is certainly a unique location with history on this campus,” said Brescher. “After thinking a lot about what brand would be great in the space, we decided it should remain a brand unique to our school.”
In addition to all these new food options, Eagle Dining also tweaked some restaurant hours throughout campus. Century Park North’s Oath Pizza, for example, is now only open from Friday to Sunday, with its hours corresponding to the Southern Wing Company’s Monday through Thursday hours.
To check out all the new menus and updated hours across campus, you can visit Eagle Dining’s official website at usm.campusdish.com. You can also follow Eagle Dining on social media through Facebook and Twitter to keep up with additional restaurant pop-ups or events.
