New Latin, Asian dining brands open at Liberty University

Liberty University students have exciting new international food options this semester, in addition to strategic enhancements to the dining experience.

Unique to Liberty Dining, a new brand called Fuego offers Latin inspired cuisine developed in-house with the campus culinary team. The menu features fun and innovative dishes like Sparky’s Chicken Burrito Bowl, El Antojo Queso Mac, Sabroso Quesadilla, Southwest Macho’s Beef Tacos, Baja Beef Taco Salad, and, for dessert, the Incredible Oreo Burrito.

The Fuego menu features an extensive selection of toppings, clarity on calorie content, and any protein can be substituted with cilantro chicken, seasoned ground beef, or chipotle sweet potatoes.

Umai, a new Asian dining option, gives students the opportunity to “create your own bowl” by choosing a base, a protein, toppings, and a sauce. Each bowl comes with an egg roll. Sides include pot stickers and crab rangoons.

Liberty Dining conducted a test-run of Umai in late March which received a 90 percent satisfaction rate among students surveyed. The designs for Umai were developed in-house and all are original illustrations by Liberty graduate, Caleb Hall.

Umai and Fuego both feature kiosk ordering systems after the systems proved successful at other retail locations on campus, on average increasing line speeds by 40%.

Einstein Bros Bagels has a new location at Tinney Café inside the Jerry Falwell Library. As a result, the Café has experienced an overall sales increase of 15.6 percent.

The brand-new Training Table on the 2nd floor of Carter Tower in Williams Stadium is exclusively for the use of select NCAA athletes, unlike the old table in the Reber-Thomas Dining Hall, that allowed use for any athlete or student. The Training Table moved this semester to focus more on giving athletes the best possible nutrition for their recovery after practice or games.

Liberty Dining’s dedicated campus nutritionist designs the menus that will be served to the student-athletes.

“Having a space dedicated simply to fueling and supporting them has tremendous benefits like more nutrition education, relationship building, and higher-quality meals,” said Liberty’s Director of Sports Nutrition Danielle Gillen. “It means we are investing in them and caring for them from a more holistic standpoint. The athletes dedicate so much of their time to their sports, and having a space dedicated just to them helps us invest in them as they invest themselves in our program.”

The space is conveniently located near Liberty's athletic facilities and features stations such as a smoothie station, grab-and-go snacks and fruit, rotisserie oven, grill station, and made to order favorites. The space seats 134 and is also used during sporting events.

Simple Servings also received its own space at the Food Court at Reber-Thomas. The space is specifically for students with dietary restrictions and allows them to eat without worrying about cross-contamination.

Junior Georgia Crandall said having a new designated space for Simple Servings has been well received by students.

“I have a lot of friends who have allergies or cannot eat gluten,” Crandall said. “Now when we come to the dining hall, we all can sit together and they’re able to have options without worrying about getting sick.”