Eating & Drinking

Dining halls ask you to stay again!

The pure take away offer in the two large dining halls of Studierendenwerk Aachen is entering the final round: On Thursday, 15 October, Mensa Academica and Mensa Vita will also reopen some of their seating areas. After a seven-month break, a number of other dining halls will also welcome you back.

Especially students and university employees have been waiting for a long time to return to the dining hall for their lunch break and simply sit down. With a Corona-compatible gastronomic concept, which allows food to be consumed within the dining hall again, Studierendenwerk now wants to expand the previous offer and have a limited number of guests to eat in the dining hall again.

However, this can only work in everyday Corona life if certain hygiene measures are maintained, as Arnold Mattes, Head of Dining Department, explains: "We will of course be able to provide far less places than before. Our concept also includes place cards, time slots and new route systems. Also important is the mandatory entry in the registration lists for everyone. In short: We are still a long way from the dining hall visit, we know from the time before Corona".

Even though the number of guests is currently quite high - each facility offers about 1,500 takeaway meals a day - it is difficult to estimate the number of visitors when the seating areas are open. However, Arnold Mattes is confident that the expanded concept will be well received. "Our guests generally show the greatest understanding for the situation and are very disciplined in dealing with the conditions imposed on them. It is important to him that customers remain flexible in their decision where to eat and that they are able to continue to take advantage of the existing take away offer.

Eating at the dining hall
In order to ensure that the available dining places can be allocated, each guest who stays for lunch is given a table number and a tray. This number, in combination with a special route system, guides them to the right place. Once the guests have finished eating, the tables are disinfected by the staff, the cards are collected and the places are reallocated. An instruction video on the homepage of Studierendenwerk will explain all necessary steps in detail.

Further dining hall openings
There is also something happening in the FH sector: Takeaway food will also be available from Wednesday, 14 October, in Mensa Bayernallee. Followed by Mensa Jülich (21 October). On 2 November, Mensa Eupener Straße and Mensa Ahornstraße will open their doors again. They will also offer take away meals.

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