Across the CWU campus, Dining has made a variety of changes with the students in mind. 

“…the students and campus community are still looking for an increased variety of healthier options, looking for quality food focus and consistency purposes, the value of food perception and then looking for increased hours of operation. So those are the kind of the four pillars that we’ve picked up on with the various assessments that were done,” Dean Masuccio, Director of Dining Services and Catering since 2018, said.

According to the CWU Dining website, their goal is to offer great, nutritious food with a smile, prepared to support health and well-being. According to Masuccio, due to an increase in student enrollment this year, the demand has become greater for these changes. 

“So areas of focus for this year are really looking at quality, customer service, experience, quality and consistency of food,” Masuccio said. “We’re still focusing in on the meaningful and immersive experiences and partnerships that we built upon these past years. We’re looking at variety and availability, increased commitment to sustainability, with local sourcing, food recovery [and] reducing food waste.”

Holmes

Changes to Holmes include the introduction of gluten free pancakes at the T9 station, where allergen friendly options are offered. Masuccio had also said that the seating in the dining hall has been redesigned with students’ input in mind. With the goal of making the place more inviting, the walls have been repainted and new wall pieces have been put up. 

Central Marketplace

Central Marketplace is the area in the SURC where Pizza, Lions Rock, El Gato, Panini, Fresh Bar and Quesadillas are. A few stations have had input and rumors circulating from both employees and students. 

“Well, we were exploring alternative options [for Panini], and we’re still soliciting feedback and going through the internal processes required about what could become or what could be added to our program, but nothing official has been decided yet,” Masuccio said. Panini will continue to run for this fall quarter.

Another change will be the pizza location offering pizza by the slice as a permanent option. Custom pizza is still an option but they will now be serving both full pizzas as well as slices.

Lions Rock will also be incorporating more diet friendly options. A new item that will be on the menu is a veggie burger as well as the option of either fruit or fries. Veggie burgers have been an option for some time but have not been advertised as an item on the menu hanging in the SURC.

The last change was to El Gatos operating hours. “So El Gato is one that I know was well received when we said it’s going to be open more frequently, and Friday Saturdays as well, some increased variety there,” Masuccio said.

Cafes and Markets

A bigger change to the markets located throughout campus are the price changes. Many items within the stores will now be increased in price.

A new addition that had a positive response during the cafe employee training for Starbucks, is the introduction of “We Proudly Serve” at Cat trax East. While it is not a licensed Starbucks, the location still has the ability to serve a variety of drinks from Starbucks as well as use the branded coffee grounds. Freshens will also still be served at East. The other stands will not partake in this and will continue to serve Cafe Vita grounds. All locations will now serve the same tea as Starbucks. 

With the intention to be more sustainable, Cafes and Markets started composting coffee grounds in partnership with the CWU Garden in spring of 2025 but paused due to the lack of running through grounds during summer break. They will begin composting again this fall at Cat Trax East and West. 

Over at The Village Cafe and Market, GrubHub will now have the option to order select market items. Those will include the most popular items amongst students as a test run for fall quarter.

The Village

The Village Grill will be adding new items to the menu. There will now be Seattle Style Bratwurst, cheesecake, veggie skewers, veggie burgers, ice cream and a few others. The new menu item of ice cream will be Winegars branded and feature cups that you can add toppings to.

For more information on food events and changes, see @cwueats on Instagram