The Point Café and Lawrence Hall Dining room will have new looks when students return in August as CulinArt Group officially replaced Aramark as Point Park University’s food service provider.

The updated Point Café was recently closed to allow CulinArt to move into the space and is now open for business for the summer as renovations begin in the Lawrence Hall Dining Room.

New director of dining services, Kristy Weiss, said students will come back in the fall to a brand new Lawrence Hall Dining Room. It is the first space on campus that CulinArt will completely redesign and renovate. Weiss said the Point Café will remain mostly unchanged for now.

She said the Point Café would undergo its major renovations during winter break to make the area more spacious.

“It gives the students something to look forward to,” Weiss said.

The Point Café is open during the summer from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Weiss said the Point Café is expected to return to hours similar to the past spring semester in the fall.

The hope for Weiss is to see more fresh and healthy food items served to students. She said there have also been talks of a possible all-day breakfast station in the Lawrence Hall Dining Room. CulinArt is still waiting for approvals regarding renovations in the Lawrence Hall Dining Room, so Weiss could not detail any specific changes.

“The expectation is to have students come back and enjoy our dining services,” Weiss said.

While the Point Café still serves certain Starbucks products, the campus Starbucks located at 7 Wood St. could soon be on the move.

According to Weiss, the plan is to move Starbucks into the space once occupied by Hundred Wood, a restaurant that opened in the fall of 2014 and closed May 20, at 100 Wood St. She said this process could take at least a year.

While the search for a new head chef continues, a staff member from nearby CulinArt client Carnegie Mellon University will serve as the interim head chef. A new director of catering services has also been hired.

With a new staff and a fresh start, Weiss said her hope is to bring students back to Point Park’s dining services in order to make it part of the student experience.

“I want to bring in the student population more and interact with them more,” Weiss said. “I want them to know who we are. Customer service is a priority.”

CulinArt Group recently replaced Aramark, who served as Point Park’s food service provider since 2001.