The day after graduation in May, after the residence halls and classrooms were empty and most of the area’s college students had migrated to their parents’ houses for the summer, a construction crew invaded campus to take on the job of remodeling the Orleans Room entirely within the summer break.

Through a $1.2 million grant from Sodexho, the company that provides food service for the university, the cafeteria received a complete makeover.

According to John Monica, director of Loyola Dining Services, work on the remodeling job began the day after graduation and lasted until Aug. 19, a week before classes began.

Though changing the face of the OR was a big summer project in itself, with only a three-month window of opportunity, it may have been complicated by the fact that the university still was responsible for feeding summer school students, students attending summer orientation, summer camp attendees and conventioneers.

According to Chris Cameron, director of the Danna Center and Student Activities, conference guests ate from a buffet-style food line in the St. Charles room while the dining room was under construction.

Cameron said that the prices the professional groups paid for food during the summer were higher than normal because all of the meals offered were all-you-can eat buffet meals rather than the a-la-carte meals usually offered at lunch in the OR.

He also said that food prices are always higher for professional groups so that the school can charge students slightly less.

Cameron said that summer session faculty, staff and students ate their meals in the Underground.

According to Monica, preparing food during the summer was as much of an adventure as finding places to serve it. Monica said that he had originally been under the impression that during most of the remodeling, his staff would be able to use the kitchen in the OR. But when the workers arrived, they realized it would not be possible to keep the OR kitchen in working order during construction.

Monica said the staff made due by using equipment in Pizza Hut and putting an extra oven in the Smoothie King area. He also said that the loss of the OR kitchen for the summer kind of “blindsided” him, but that despite the interruptions caused by the work, the OR staff and the contractors had a good working relationship.

When the cooks were finally able to return to the OR kitchen, they were greeted by a more comfortable working environment, Cameron said.

Before the remodeling, there was no cooling system in the kitchen. The kitchen routinely ran about 110 degrees, Cameron said.

Though installing air conditioning in the kitchen would have been too large and complex a job for the summer time frame, the workers did install a set of large vents, or swamp coolers, to suck some of the hot air out, Cameron said.

The kitchen is still hot, but at least it’s bearable, he said.

Other changes to the OR included more than a new coat of paint and some shuffled counter space.

All of the plumbing and electrical fixtures were changed, and several meal offerings were changed or added, Monica and Cameron both said.

The bakery and dessert counter was moved near the front of the serving area. The grill and pizza areas moved but kept the basic offerings.

Monica said the pizza offerings may expand slightly. The cafeteria gained a carving counter and a vegan line.

Monica said the new design focuses on active stations, in which a lot of the food is prepared when the student orders rather than before the cafeteria opens.

He said that the goal of this setup is to have the workers in the serving area rather than the kitchen during mealtimes.

The new OR will be used as a showcase facility for Sodexho. Cameron said that when universities and other large organizations are bidding food services contracts, it is a common practice for them to visit other facilities run by the food companies they are considering.

Cameron said since Loyola is a showcase account, the university will get a lot of attention from Sodexho, which will mean the quality of the food and service will constantly improve.

According to both Cameron and Monica, the renovation project went relatively smoothly. Monica said that during construction, the contractor was able to follow the plans faithfully. Only two problems arose: the planned type of flooring had to be changed to make it compatible with the rest of the materials and the delivery of the new tables and chairs for the dining room was delayed.

The furniture was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, the second day of class, but was rescheduled for Thursday.

Cameron and Monica both said these problems were slight when compared with the scope of the project.

“One glitch in the entire thing is pretty amazing when you consider what it looked like before,” Cameron said.