As part of the north end zone expansion project, a new dining facility is expected to debut in the Arizona Stadium this fall, offering the campus community a place to come together.
Located in the stadium, Bear Down Kitchen will have a large menu and incorporate both a full-style kitchen and pizza oven, as well as meals designed for athletes.
The menu will also rotate every week, and will be buffet style, according to Jason Tolliver, director of Arizona Student Unions. Students can pay at the door, and eat however much they want, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, he added.
Some menu items may include Carolina BBQ pork, Chicken Marengo, Greek pizza and calzones.
“When we were planning this new building, we were wondering if there was a way to incorporate the nutritious needs of our student-athletes,” said Greg Byrne, vice president and director of athletics. “As well as an opportunity to create a place that our campus can come to.”
According to Tolliver, the new restaurant could create some unique and special experiences for those who want to be a part of it.
With more than 40,000 students at the UA and only 500 student athletes, chances of students interacting with athletes is very limited, Byrne said, but that bridging the gap between students and student-athletes is an important goal from the Athletic Department.
“We [the Athletic Department] don’t want to be isolated from campus and we think this is a good facility to reinforce the relationships between us and the rest of campus,” Byrne said.
Some students said they liked the idea of having a restaurant for both athletes and students.
“It would be good to have the restaurant mixing students and athletes because it will create more excitement for big games,” said Kira Karns, a pre-medicine senior.
In a YouTube update about the new north end zone expansion, Byrne said Bear Down Kitchen will also help from a recruiting stand point. This new restaurant will bring together student-athletes from all sports, not just football.
However, plans for Bear Down Kitchen to be open during home football games are still up in the air.
“The building is going to be used extensively on game days, and so we’ll be limited,” Byrne said. “We haven’t decided how it will be used.”
The restaurant will be open Monday through Friday, though Byrne said it hasn’t been decided whether it will be open on game days.
“We just hope it creates a good bond,” Byrne said, “Between the university, the faculty, the general students, our student-athletes and our athletic department.”
