New Dining Options Await Limestone Students This Fall As Part of Hines & Riggins Center

The Limestone University campus community will be greeted with additional dining options this fall with two new food and beverage facilities opening inside the new Hines & Riggins Center.

Limestone Dining Services, operated by Sodexo, is preparing to open a Freshens location on the first floor of the building, along with Café 1845 that will feature Starbucks coffee products and other grab-and-go items.

Freshens is a healthy fast casual concept, which offers made-to-order food inspired by fresh ingredients, as well as signature fresh blended smoothies. Freshens currently has over 350 locations, including 25 airports and 200 college and universities.

The Freshens menu will include a variety of grilled flatbreads, salads, rice bowls, artisan melts, toasted wraps, yogurt smoothies, and wellness blends. Freshens’ “Food With A Purpose” initiative is its commitment to provide guests with better choices through responsible sourcing of the ingredients used in its recipes. Guests can choose from a variety of ingredients to create vegetarian, gluten free, and vegan lifestyle options.

Operating hours for Freshens will be 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. for lunch, and 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. for dinner.

Café 1845, paying homage to Limestone’s founding year and named through a University survey, will serve Starbucks coffee items, Italian-style espresso beverages, Teavana teas, parfaits, and an assortment of pastries and other items. It will operate each day from 7:30 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Both Freshens and Café 1845 are expected to be open in time for the first day of classes at Limestone on Monday, Aug. 23.

“The new food and beverage options inside the Hines & Riggins Center, being made available by Sodexo, will enhance the student experience even more in our new building,” said Limestone University President Dr. Darrell Parker. “We appreciate the hard work of Limestone University Dining and Sodexo in providing Limestone with some of the best dining choices available.”

The popular SubConnection location in the Dobson Center will continue to offer cold or toasted subs, wraps, soups, and salads. Limestone’s former Starbucks location inside the Dobson Center is relocating into the Hines & Riggins Center as part of Café 1845. The Dobson Center space once occupied by Starbucks will be repurposed to provide an array of “pop-up” lunch-time meal specials from Limestone Dining Services, along with local restaurants such as Chick-Fil-A.

Limestone Dining Services continues to operate Stephenson Dining Hall, which offers a wide variety of all-you-can-eat meal options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Stephenson Dining Hall features fresh fruit & salads, home-style entrées, freshly baked pizza and pasta, homemade soups, freshly baked desserts, and deli choices.

Freshens, Café 1845, and SubConnection will all offer Limestone University meal exchange items that can be used as alternatives to Stephenson Dining Hall as part of students’ meal plans. Each location will also accept cash and credit card payments.

“The Hines & Riggins Center will soon be the central gathering place where our entire Limestone community can collaborate and connect,” said Reggie Browning, Limestone’s Vice President for Finance, Administration, and Operations. “Our students, faculty, and staff are all so excited about so many new things that the building will offer. We are looking forward to our first meals at Freshens and our first cups of coffee at Café 1845. In addition to our students who reside on campus, the new amenities inside the Hines & Riggins Center will be an extra benefit for our commuting students who will now have a place to study, socialize, and eat before, after, and in between classes.”

The three-story, 65,000-square-foot Hines & Riggins Center will be home to Limestone’s library, student center, classrooms, study rooms, the Student Success office, public art gallery, community meeting space, and more. 

“We are extremely proud to have worked so closely with the Limestone University campus community to have new and vibrant dining locations,” said Don Sawicki, District Manager for Sodexo. “I want to thank President Dr. Darrell Parker for his support during the renovation process. The strong partnership between Limestone University and Sodexo continues to help create a dining program that enhances the student experience and builds campus community.”