A new Starbucks Coffee could be open on the UC Davis campus by the end of this week. Starbucks will be replacing Brenan’s Coffee, located in the Silo. The new Starbucks will be similar to the location at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), and will have coffee drinks, sandwiches and other foods.
This change comes as part of a larger renovation of the Silo, which began construction this summer.
“The entire Silo is an aging facility and we really needed to refresh the entire building. It’s phase-one of a multi-phase process to rejuvenate the Silo,” said Brett Burns, executive director of auxiliary enterprises at UC Davis.
The project, funded by Sodexo, totaled at approximately $750,000. The Starbucks will be over 2,000 square feet and the architecture has attempted to preserve the unique architecture of the Silo.
“It does keep the architectural feel of the Silo Union, which is a new thing Starbucks is trying to do,” Burns said.
The new Starbucks will be one of many coffee options already on campus. A large coffee at the ARC Starbucks costs $2.16, with tax. A large coffee at the ASUCD Coffee House (CoHo) costs $2.
Sharon Coulson, director of the CoHo, said that she hopes it will not negatively affect the CoHo, which serves over 35,000 students a week.
Coulson pointed out that the CoHo has been competing with other coffee options for a long time.
“It’s inherent within the UC Davis food service model that ASUCD has competition on campus; we’ve competed several UC Davis contracted food service corporations since the [CoHo] was established in 1968,” Coulson said.
Burns said that the goal of the new Starbucks was to continue to give the consumers, the students and the campus a variety of options for where they can get their coffee. The Silo now features more seating area for customers and renovated bathrooms, and Starbucks has replaced Brenan’s Coffee.
Brenan’s has been on campus for around 10 years, and was named after Brenan Connolly, who currently runs residential dining on campus.
Connolly is not bitter about Starbucks replacing Brenan’s, however.
“On with newer and better things,” Connolly said in a statement released by the university. Burns said that a new open-air canopy will be coming soon to the Silo courtyard.
“The next step for us is to enhance the landscaping in the Silo courtyard. There will be a large overhang, like what you see at the Central Park in downtown Davis and we are looking to enhance mobile food cart business,” Burns said.
The East Quad Farmers market will move from the East Quad to the Silo courtyard, and will be renamed the UC Davis Farmers market.
HANNAH STRUMWASSER can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
