After months of waiting, students will finally have a new choice for dining on Cal State Long Beach’s North Campus: The Outpost Grill and Convenience Store.
The Outpost celebrated its grand opening Friday following a lengthy construction project.
CSULB President F. King Alexander took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. and said he hoped the new building would be a good gathering place for students.
“We’re just glad to be able to get some food back on this part of campus,” Alexander said.
A live band provided entertainment as restaurant staff members provided free samples to students and faculty members attending the ceremony.
The Outpost, located between the Vivian Engineering Center and the Social Sciences and Public Adminstration building, is replacing an older building of the same name. The new restaurant was scheduled to open during the fall 2008 semester, but a series of construction delays and other problems plagued the $5.5 million project.
Don Penrod, CEO and general manager of 49er Shops Inc., which operates food services on campus, said the old Outpost was built several decades ago as a snack bar. It did not originally have seating, and most of the building was devoted to the kitchen area.
“It looked like a larger building than it was,” Penrod said.
According to Penrod, the facility was becoming difficult to keep clean and could no longer serve the needs of the expanding campus population, eventually leading 49er Shops to draw up plans for a new building.
The revised Outpost features a convenience store and a dining area with both indoor and outdoor seating. The convenience store officially opened last Wednesday. The dining area also features flat-panel TVs and wireless Internet access.
Christopher Chavez, vice president of Associated Students Inc., called the restaurant a “very welcoming, very modern environment.”
Paula Finley, a social work graduate student, agreed.
“[It’s] much better than the old Outpost,” Finley said.
The new restaurant offers a similar menu to the Nugget Grill & Pub with American foodstuffs, but with more variety. Penrod said the grill is now serving Asian dishes and may add Mexican entrées in the future. Unlike the Nugget, the Outpost does not serve alcohol.
Serena Johnson, also a social work graduate student, said she liked the convenient location more than the food.
“We’ve been hiking all the way to the Union,” Johnson said.
Johnson also liked the atmosphere more than Camp Outpost, the outdoor grill that operated during construction of the new facility for the fall semester.
“Sometimes it was dark, and you couldn’t tell if they were open,” Johnson said of the temporary location.
The Outpost grill will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The convenience store will be open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Both store hours are subject to change.
Food rules