OU’s Couch Restaurants will be featured in the August edition of Food Management magazine, after receiving the award for “Best Renovation” from the magazine.
Couch Restaurants will be presented with its award at an October Food Management conference in Chicago.
“Receiving the award for Food Management’s Best Concepts Competition is inspiring," Housing and Food Services Director Dave Annis said by e-mail. “More so, faculty, staff and students now dine next to one another, and students are treating their families to a great meal, too.”
The award-winning facility is good for the school in many different ways.
“Not only does this beautiful facility serve to benefit the current students, faculty and staff, but it also serves as a great recruiting tool for OU,” Annis said. “Several times per year, Couch Restaurants hosts thousands of high school students during events like Sooner Saturday. When prospective students get to see the renovations, interact with a lively student body, and taste the amazing food, they want to come back for more.”
After two years of research, OU Food Services decided to completely renovate what was then called Couch Cafeteria.
“Prior to 2006 when a Chick-fil-A and a pizza concept were added to Couch Cafeteria, no major renovation had occurred to the building since it opened in 1968,” Annis said. “Couch Cafeteria had wide-open spaces, industrial serving lines and sprawling institutional folding tables.”
Taking 12 months to complete, Couch Cafeteria was reopened as Couch Restaurants. It is now a venue that provides the ultimate community dining experience, Annis said.
“The opportunity to bring audiences together over healthier and more flavorful meals in a comfortable environment was the basis of the renovation,” Annis said. “We appreciate the opportunity we have been given to make a positive impact in the life of every individual we serve.”
The renovation of Couch Restaurants, which was completed in September of 2009, now features 14 restaurants, Wi-Fi access, a large projection screen, 10 large flat screen televisions, 12 smaller televisions, restaurant style seating, energy efficient lighting, heating and cooling and new meeting areas on the upper floor of the building.
Housing and Food Services spokeswoman Lauren Royston said one benefit of the new renovations is the ability for students to come together for different events, creating what she calls an updated community center.
“We work with a lot of different student organizations,” Royston said. “We host football watch parties, we’ve done movie parties, and what’s really nice is we already have great kitchen areas and restaurant areas as a part of this, so it is just really natural to sit down and have a watch party. We can do popcorn and pizza on game days for those students who don’t have tickets or for the away games, so it is just a really nice place for them to come together.”
The new renovations make it easier on students.
“The hours are really available so it suits the students’ schedule,” Royston said. “Wi-Fi access has also been a huge hit, so you can come in and eat and study at the same time.”
Royston said having everything in the same place is something that is a plus for the facility.
“It is nice to have it all under one roof,” Royston said. “You can absolutely make your fresh, healthy salad, and then go down and try to be healthful and have half a cup of frozen yogurt, and it is all in one place, so you’re not back and forth between different parts of campus.”
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soonerboomers 1 year, 10 months ago
Waste of money.