At 1 p.m. — peak lunch hour on campus — hundreds of students flock to the newly renovated Cox Hall Food Market for a bite to eat, with a lucky few snagging seats at swanky brown booths. The food hall, which closed for renovations in May 2024, reopened in late August, just in time to welcome incoming first-year and returning students.
The construction project aimed to upgrade the food court by expanding seating options, maximizing space by eliminating the centralized cashiers and making the flow of traffic “more streamlined,” according to a statement to The Emory Wheel from Senior Director of Campus Dining Chad Sunstein. He noted that Emory had not renovated Cox Hall in 20 years.
Alongside new food options, Cox Hall also boasts upgraded aesthetics, including new seating, light fixtures, paint and decor.
“The project encompasses both interior and exterior upgrades that will move the Cox Hall first floor from a transactional location to a vibrant dining environment where the Emory community can collectively engage and flourish,” Sunstein said in an online statement announcing the renovations.
Henley Adams (28C) praised the new Cox Hall, sharing that the interior was much more “welcoming” and aesthetically pleasing than the previous version.
“This is much cuter,” Adams said. “The other one, it was chaotic-looking. I didn't know what line I was in, the lines were merged.”
Along with interior renovations, Cox Hall now offers expanded outdoor communal spaces — an aspect that Blake Herndon (29C) appreciates for providing increased seating and study space.
“Outside, I see a lot of people studying,” Herndon said. “Personally, I study outside Cox Hall. The seating is beautiful. It's good people-watching.”
During last year’s construction, the Cox Hall pedestrian bridge, parallel to the building, was closed intermittently and renovators removed seating on the bridge. After returning to campus, Will McNally (28C) was happy to see the bridge reopened with new seating options.
“I actually come here all the time, whether it's sitting inside or outside,” McNally said. “I love having this ambience.”
Before the renovation, the food court hosted nine quick-service options such as Bon Appétit Management Company vendors Twisted Taco and Maru as well as local Atlanta business Blue Donkey Coffee. Bon Appétit is Emory’s food services vendor, operating several coffee shops on campus, the Dobbs Common Table (DCT) and parts of the Cox Hall food court.
In the new food court, students can choose from six options: three Bon Appétit vendors, an Amazon convenience store, local restaurant Brasiliana Pizza and Big Chicken. Along with other Bon Appétit vendors Ace Sushi and Honolulu Coffee, Twisted Taco, a campus favorite, returned permanently to the renovated building after being a mobile food service option last year. Sunstein explained in his statement to the Wheel that the decrease from nine food options to six aimed to optimize the space in the food court.
“Prior to the renovation, two of the vendors accounted for the majority of sales for the entire space,” Sunstein wrote. “In redesigning the Food Market, we wanted to ensure the vendors had more physical space to support the scale of services they needed to provide.”
Laura Jablonover (29C) and Adams both said that their go-to spot in Cox Hall is Ace Sushi, an Asian quick-service station, highlighting their poke bowl menu item. Antalya Badi (28B) also noted Ace Sushi as one of her new favorites, emphasizing its value as a “unique” food option on campus.
Honolulu Coffee, a Bon Appétit franchise, is a tropical-themed coffee shop new to Cox Hall, but some students have said that its menu is similar to Kaldi’s, which already has two locations on campus.
“Honolulu Coffee is just Kaldi’s with a different name,” Jennifer Kim (27C) said. “I really like the fact that the ube latte is a regular thing here. That used to be a seasonal thing at Kaldi’s.”
Another feature of the food hall is its new meal exchange options for students with meal swipes in their dining plan, an addition that Kim said was particularly appealing to first-year students, who are required to purchase an unlimited meal swipe plan. Kwilai Karto (29C) emphasized her preference for the food options at Cox Hall over the DCT, only critiquing the food court for its limited hours.
“I often choose it over the DCT,” Karto said. “The only thing is, since the meal exchange ends at six, that’s a little frustrating whenever I'm like, ‘Oh, I could really go for that right now.’”
Sunstein said that the community response to the opening of Cox Hall has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
While both the renovations and meal exchange program have garnered praise from some underclassmen, Sam Lim (26C) suspects that the crowds — and subsequent congestion — in Cox Hall could be due to this new dining option for first-year students.
“It's way too crowded,” Lim said. “I don't know if it'll stay this crowded, but it's more crowded because you can use your meal swipes here.”
Complaints of crowds, lines and tight spaces are nothing new. When Emory began the Cox Hall construction, one of their goals was to improve the “poor line queuing” and limited space.
“During peak hours, it can be challenging for students and our campus community guests to navigate dining vendors and checkout lines,” the Campus Life press statement said.
However, while the interior of Cox Hall has changed, students are still echoing these same complaints. Angie Siaca (28C) said that if she did not intentionally come to the food court during off-hours, then it is “impossible” to get a seat or food. McNally agreed, sharing that the most popular spots in Cox Hall tend to have extremely long lines.
Even new students are catching onto these problems. Sebastien Roure-Singh (29C) said that the renovated hall’s seating options are limited and that the space is too small to support the influx of students, faculty and community members at peak hours.
“Seating can get a little annoying because you have two people that will sit at a five-person booth, and they waste space,” said Roure-Singh.
Despite criticism and longstanding issues with Cox Hall, students still continue to rush into the building at lunch hour, ready to enjoy its food options, beautiful seating and convenient location. Reflecting on her experience in both the new and old Cox Hall, Lim said that she appreciated the changes but finds that the new building and meal swipe option favors younger students.
“For one, this was an easy option if I wanted something quickly.” Lim said. “Now that I don't have meal swipes or anything, I would not choose to come here.”
Ellie Fivas (she/her) (26C) is from Cleveland, Tenn., and is majoring in political science and history on the pre-law track. When she is not working for the Wheel, she works in prison education, leads a human rights club and works at the Emory Writing Center. In her free time, you can find her reading trashy romances and The New York Times, basking on the Quadrangle and doing crossword puzzles.
