Students at Keene State have seen a change in dining options and locations to start the 2026 academic year. Students have begun to experience the new places around campus, and Chartwells dining launched the new year with a new look.
Throughout the 2025 academic year, the Hoot-n-Scoot housed two food operations that were open to students at certain times throughout the week. The Sip Studio and Mac & Melt have been added to the Hoot-n-Scoot in place of Sushi Do. The Sizzler had been around for so many years and was known as a college favorite inside the Hoot-n-Scoot. Now, the Sizzler is in Lloyds, next to Burger 603. Tu Taco has been turned into Copperhead Jacks, which offers a similar style of food that was served at Tu Taco.
The Sizzler’s hours have also changed and sizzlers are now available all week long in Lloyds as opposed to the few days a week last academic year. Campus Executive Chef, Austin O’hara, said that changes to The Sizzler’s location were in response to feedback from students.
“Last year we got lots of feedback, as we do every year, when we did surveys and focus groups, and one of the things that we heard really loud and clear was more Sizzler hours. And so we decided to move it into a space where we could staff it seven days a week, nights and weekends,” said O’hara.
Using other feedback, O’hara said that there was an emphasis on bringing more comfort food to KSC. That is how the new destination Mac & Melt began.
“How do we take something warm and familiar, and turn it into something new for students? So we took mac and cheese, which is a huge seller in Zorn every time we run it, and said ‘Okay, let’s dress this up with some really cool fun names that are fun to say’,” said O’Hara.
Two of those funny names for mac and cheese inspired dishes are the Buffalo Bill and the Little Piggy. First-year student Anna Mulder praised the new dishes along with items from Sip Studio.
“It’s really good, I got a blue raspberry freeze. It tastes like a blue raspberry Jolly Rancher. I get the teas and the mac and cheese–their Buffalo Bill mac and cheese is amazing,” said Mulder.
Mulder was accompanied by another first-year student, Blair Schou, who said that they were not around for Sushi Do when it was in the place of Mac and Melt but have heard all about it.
“I had friends that really liked it, and they were sad, but then they had it [Mac and Melt] and said it was really good,” said Schou.
O’Hara said that with these new food options, feedback from students is important and can have meaningful input for dining staff. In the first few weeks, O’Hara and the dining staff have made an effort to get the new products out to students to let them decide on what these destinations should look like.
“We did a lot of sampling in the first week just to try to get the different products out there and let students know what was happening in this space,” said O’Hara
O’Hara said he hopes that going forward, students will continue to try everything that is offered to them and give feedback about what they like or want to see changed.
“We really thrive on feedback from students. Our whole purpose is to serve you guys, so we want to take every little bit of conversation and feedback that we get from you guys,” said O’Hara.
Check Dine On Campus for the menus these new food options offer and to see where different destinations have moved.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
jenscoe@kscequinox.com
