Simpson students can now feed those late-night cravings on campus at the Storm Street Grill.

The Grill, which used to close at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, is now open until 11 p.m.

“The decision was inspired by the need for other opportunities for students around campus,” Rich Ramos, assistant dean of students and director of student activities, said. “Currently, options are pretty limited for students and we wanted to see if there was a way for us to fill a need that existed for students.”?

According to Ramos, the Grill’s late hours were tested last year for a brief period, but were discontinued due to a lack of funding.

“We tried it for a period last year and felt the need to do a little retooling of what we were doing and now we are trying it again,” Ramos said.

The retooling includes promoting the new hours that many students don’t know about yet.

Night Team Leader Misty Hartzler said that late-night events have helped attract more people to the Grill.

“The nights with Creative U, more people come in,” Hartzler said. “We won’t be bored with more people.”

Grill Supervisor Jacque Glasscock said that without late-night programming such as Creative U or concerts, very few customers are present at the Grill.

“There are maybe two to three students at most,” Glasscock said. “You can only do so much until you have nothing to do. I’m getting too old to stay up until 11. More advertising would help.”

Students have mixed views about the Grill’s new hours.

Senior Hank Muzney said he appreciates the Grill’s late night hours because he does not have a car campus.

“Because they got rid of midnight breakfast, there’s now a place to get late-night munchies,” Muzney said. “It should open earlier on the weekends because of conflicting times with Pep Band.”

Senior Kyla Whaley believes that the hours should be extended during the weekdays as well.

“There are times on campus when I’m studying pretty late and I want food,” Whaley said. “I’m not hungry at 5 in the afternoon. I’m hungry later.”

The extended weekend hours are just one change that Simpson Dining Services has implemented.

“We have introduced many new single service items and other product offerings such as Naked Juice,” Blair Stairs, general manager of Simpson Dining Services, said. “We are working on speeding up the service to our customers by changing some of our past procedures. We have also physically rearranged the Grill somewhat to enhance customer service.”

Another change, which is a result of Simpson’s sustainability initiative, involves compostable plates.

In addition to the changes to the Grill, there have also been several new additions to Pfeiffer Dining Hall. These include flat-screen television monitors, which will eventually display menus and nutrition information as well as the weather.

“A new fresh fruit display has been added,” Stairs said. “The pictures on the walls of the Pfeiffer dining room are also in the process of being updated. New menu items have been added this year to the Pfeiffer menu offerings and we will continue to update these throughout the school year.”