Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. to dedicate the newest—and largest—meal plan facility on the Athens campus. The 1,000-seat Bolton Dining Commons was completed in July and opened its doors on Aug. 18 for the start of fall semester classes, setting a UGA serving record as it fed 9,500 people.
The public is invited to attend the ceremony, which will be held on the Tanyard Creek side of the building. Parking will be available in the Tate Student Center parking deck.
The two-story dining commons, named after longtime UGA treasurer and comptroller John Dixon Bolton, is approximately 56,000 square feet. Construction on the $24-million building began in the spring of 2013.
The facility replaces the original Bolton Dining Commons, which was completed in 1963 as part of a 1,000-student housing complex and was called Creswell Cafeteria. It was renamed soon after John Dixon Bolton’s death in 1965 in honor of his 32 years of service to the university.
Freshly baked treats greet customers as soon as they pass the cashier’s station in the new Bolton Dining Commons. The facility showcases interactive dining platforms throughout the building—including an all-day breakfast café with counter-style seating, cooked-to-order international cuisine such as wok stir-fry and sautéed pastas, hand-spun milkshakes, smoked meats, deli sandwiches and recipes full of vegetables, grains and whole foods. A section of the building is dedicated to menu items that are free of gluten and the eight most common food allergens—fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, milk, wheat and soy.
Much of the interior and exterior of the building was made from granite sourced in nearby Elberton. All of the facility’s food waste is being pulped and sent to an on-campus bioconversion center to be composted and reused.
Bolton Dining Commons, used primarily by UGA students, is open to the public. The facility is the first UGA dining commons to serve dinner on Sunday. Breakfast costs $9, lunch is $11.25, and dinner is $15.50.
For more information, see http://foodservice.uga.edu/locations/bolton.
