New recipes. New restaurants. New views.
That's the gravitational pull of the Lodge Dining Center, the University of Montana's new food hall that opened to students this week after years of planning and construction. The new hall, featuring traces of Montana's history and culture, off ers eight diff erent eating options, two second-floor patios and a more efficient way to serve students compared with the old Food Zoo dining center. "(The Lodge) is a 38,000-squarefoot encapsulation of our great state," University of Montana President Seth Bodnar said Thursday.
"This building truly is a love letter to Montana, and I could not be more excited about the way this facility came to fruition, and frankly it exceeded my highest expectations." The dining hall cost $50 million and construction began in late 2021. Bodnar said the new center pays homage to Montana's past, while off ering a new space for the students of the university's future.
For decades, students primarily dined in the Food Zoo, a sunken one-room space that offered multiple buffet-style options. UM Dining Director Richard Huffman said the layout and size at times caused logistical issues. "The Food Zoo had its time, it was really special at one time, but we outgrew it and the technology outgrew it," Huffman said.
"(The Lodge) gets UM back in the game." Instead of mostly buffet, the Lodge will feature several "pods" of restaurants with rotational and consistent menus. The area also offers top floor seating overlooking the Oval, the "M" and Main Hall.
Bodnar said he hopes the site will become the go-to hangout spot for students. "This is a place of gathering, this is a place of friendship, this is a place of significance," Bodnar said. The build For three years, the corner of the Oval had been overrun with construction materials and cranes demolishing old buildings and creating the new Lodge.
Crews demolished parts of Craig Hall and the Lommasson Center to make way for the 38,000-square-foot building. Inside, a large three-story open space lets users pass through to different stations and seating areas. Just one swipe of a Griz card allows a student to eat at any of the options.
A large fireplace opens to both inside and outside the building. In total, the lodge can seat 1,000 people, compared with 483 in the Food Zoo. On Wednesday, the Lodge served 1,700 meals to students who arrived on campus Monday.
"It's been busy," Huffman said. Each dining option includes a piece of Montana. The Sa Fire oven pizza place references the Sapphire Mountains to the southeast of Missoula.
The Square and Compass Grill harks back to Montana's first cattle brand symbol. The Yow and Yee Mongolian Grill was named after the family members who ran the oldest Chinese restaurant in the county: The Pekin Noodle Parlor located in Butte, America. Sallie's dessert spot was named after Sallie Gammon Bickford, the first woman in Montana to own a business (a water utility) when she lived in Virginia City during the 1860s.
At the same time, the technology has been improved. More than 100 electrical outlets are available for laptops and phones. There's a new system that updates nutrition and allergy information in real time.
The building itself is on track to receive a "Gold" certified rating for energy efficiency and the Lodge will be heated using renewable resources. Bodnar said the name for the building is traced through western Montana's Indigenous history and the former Lodge building that operated on campus from 1955 to 1998. "The name, the Lodge, it translates to a very spiritual meaning, or place, for every single one of Montana's 12 native tribes," Bodnar said.
"But the Lodge, of course, has special meaning for all Montanans, and it reflects a meaning that translates to just about everyone." Bodnar said the university is in the middle of the largest infrastructure upgrade in the campus history. Missoula's campus needs it, too, as the average building age on campus is roughly 60 years old.
With the Food Zoo space still available, the university will start using it as flex space to house people disturbed by other construction set to begin on campus. Smiling faces More than 50 UM officials cheered on the opening, which was christened with a "breaking of bread" from Bodnar, who snapped a baguette in two as a sort of ribbon cutting. But inside, new students who arrived this week from orientation soaked up the food and open sitting space.
"I'd been to the Food Zoo before, and I have to say that I really like the Lodge," freshman music and composition major Kael Brown said as he chowed down at a window looking onto the campus Bear statue. Freshman Sierra Dana and transfer student Alec Chaney both moved from Washington to attend UM. Neither of them knew of the new dining center until they applied and checked out UM.
"I remember when the the Lodge was still under construction when I toured in April, I was not expecting it," Dana said as their group finished an early lunch. "It ended being a really nice bonus for us," Chaney said. Huffman, with all smiles, said he doesn't miss the Food Zoo.
He said the new Lodge will usher in a new look to campus, and might offer an enrollment boost with the upgraded amenity. "This is such a gift to be a part of this and to work in such an efficient and beautiful space," Huffman said. "It's going to contribute to our enrollment.
I think its going to be a place where students want to hang out, and that's what we want." The Lodge will open to the public beginning Monday. The center will be open daily from 7 a.
m. to 9 p.m.
For more information on meals and pricing, go online to the university's dining website. Griffen Smith is the local government reporter for the Missoulian. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
