The future reconstructions of Landrum and Lakeside will not only increase building size, but will also benefit students educationally.

The current plans are to educate students by hiring trained chefs to work with students, Jeff Yawn, director of Eagle Dining, said.

“These changes will not only be beneficial to student life, but also to student education. There were recent changes made to Georgia Southern's curriculum which rid of the culinary arts and home economics programs,” Yawn said.

Eagle Dining will be implementing modifications within the re-modeling to help supplement this void, Yawn said.

“We will be hiring many chefs that have culinary training and certification with the American Culinary Federation, which is a very prestigious and hard program to get into. We want to provide our students with more diverse and better choices,” Yawn said.

There will also be learning sessions where students with meal plans, as well as employees, can learn how to cook, Yawn said.

Both facilities will be “All Access,” which means meal plans can be used more like a debit card instead of buying a whole meal, Yawn said.

Beginning in the fall of 2013, students will not be limited to buffet style or meal plan limit options, but will be able to dine in or carry out from both facilities, Yawn said.

“This All Access option will allow students to come and go as they please, and will not limit students to a budgeted meal plan that has to be used by a certain time.  Another great incentive to these changes include the fact that the student discount on your Eagle Express will increase. The hours will also be longer”, Yawn said.

Head chef at Lakeside Jason Pickard will be contributing kitchen design and layout, equipment and menu development to the new renovations of Lakeside.

“We would like to expand our ability to do more cooking from scratch, bringing back the focus on fresh ingredients and have a more modern facility to please our guests,” Pickard said.

Plans for Landrum’s reconstruction include involving students by allowing them to see their food being prepared, a better dining area and implementing staff ideas and student ideas for change, General Manager of Landrum Bud Fleming said.

“We want a more diverse dining area for the students because the students are our number one priority and that’s what we cater to. We want to create an atmosphere that is more friendly to them and getting them involved, and get students to sign up and cook and be a part of the culinary experience. We want to be known as one of the best institutions in Statesboro and the southeast of Georgia,” Fleming said.

Reconstruction of Landrum and renovation of Lakeside is planned to begin in July of 2012, Yawn said.

“Landrum will be torn down completely and Lakeside will be completely renovated. The sizes of these facilities will greatly increase expanded seating and employment opportunities.  Landrum is now able to seat about 360-375 students, and after the renovations will be able to seat 1100-1200 students.  As well, Lakeside will expand to be able to seat up to 500-550, now being able to seat between 350-375,” Yawn said.

Fleming said Landrum will temporarily be located in the parking lot behind Centennial Place dorms.