On Sept. 13, the Courtyard Cafe reopened following its third round of renovations since spring 2025. The updates this summer included “improving the kitchen’s flow” and “adding a new area to feature Fresh Zone vending items,” according to the campus services website.
The cafe’s first renovations in spring 2025 included adding self-ordering kiosks and a wall separating students and workers. Following student complaints, renovations in summer 2025 remodeled the cafe layout to increase interaction between students and staff.
Dartmouth Dining director Jon Plodzik said the newest cafe renovations were mostly behind the counter and not changes that people will “immediately notice.” He said the outdated building presented a lot of “opportunities for mechanical failures” and added that the changes will “improve the productivity of the [cafe] team.”
“This renovation includes new kitchen equipment on the main line [and] a reconfiguration of some of the stations,” Plodzik said. “Walls have been removed and the hood system has been extended so that we can fit some additional kitchen equipment underneath that hood to make the flow go a lot faster.”
Plodzik said new kitchen equipment will include a double flat-top grill, electric induction heating and a convection oven, which will allow the cafe cooks to “do steam and heat together.” He added that he does not expect any more changes to the cafe, except for adding “a few more seats if we can.”
The cafe’s recent renovations “represent really the first big renovation we’ve done in the last 10 years in dining since I’ve been here,” Plodzik said. “We’ve done little things along the way, but we took a very worn out, kind of tired space and really brought it up to today’s standards and it feels great when you see it.”
The seating area around the cafe has also been replaced to feel “much more contemporary,” according to Plodzik. He said the cafe worked with SCI Furniture, a furniture company based in New York, to furnish the area.
“I think people will like the new flooring, the new lighting, the new seats [and] the new experience,” Plodzik said. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Ben Killian ’29 said the cafe’s technology and ordering process felt the “same,” adding that the furniture changes “looked cool,” but were not “that crazy.”
Dhanush Balaji ’26 said the new design “looks good,” but that he prefers the “old” version of the cafe from when he was a freshman.
“The [cafe] right now looks much more like a fast food restaurant than it used to be,” Balaji said. “Because in the past, there was more human interaction, but right now it’s just all these computer systems and it’s more digital, which I don’t like.”
Jared Gonzalez Arce '29 is a news reporter from California majoring in history. Out of The D, Jared is in surf club and loves music.
