The renovation plans for Morgan Commons were two years in the making and covered every square inch of the dining room and kitchen. The new format for the food service is part of Chartwell's Profile's in Good Taste program. It was also modeled after Chartwell's Dining Hall at Northeastern, which members of the Student life and Dining services staff toured prior to drafting plans for the renovations.
The new design of the dining hall allows students to avoid a bottleneck while choosing their food. The building was also about thirty years old and had numerous maintenance problems that were outdated as well as the services for which Daka had been designed.
"The food service trend in today's college Market is 'Food Court' type service and self service stations," said Robert Wilder, Morgan Dining Commons Manager.
Construction began on the Dining room on May 5, 2000 while the kitchen remained open until June 7 when its demolition and renovation began. During the construction Dining services offices, which were formerly located where the Backroom Bistro stands now, were moved to the smaller Founders Dining Hall. All construction on both the Kitchen and Dining area were completed on August 7.
"The school was very generous to give it the look you see today," said Joe Kraskouskas, Director of Dining Services. "We have heard very positive comments from students. A lot of effort was put into what the kids wanted."
Compass Group, the parent company of Chartwell's in 1997, purchased Daka. Although Daka had many programs, Chartwell's has focused on food and guest service, which it prides itself on. Compass group was named the Official Catering Specialist at the 2001 Olympics.