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Cornell University

Student & Campus Life

A guide to Cornell Dining for Fall 2021

The Cornell Dining team has assembled some information to help you navigate a dining program of which we're extremely proud, explaining some of what's new and some reminders to help keep everyone healthy. Most of our eateries will be open during move-in days, and meal plans begin with lunch on August 19th. Families and guests are welcome, too.

Bookmark Cornell Dining Now at now.dining.cornell.edu to see what's open when.

Safety and sanitation

Cornell Dining employees and guests are required to wear masks or suitable face coverings at all times in our eateries except while seated and eating or drinking, per Cornell's policy on remaining masked while indoors. We are disinfecting surfaces regularly and replacing self-service utensils at least every 30 minutes in line with current guidelines from CDC, New York State, and Tompkins County.

Mobile ordering

Several of our cafés and our grills are available on GET Order, our mobile ordering service, to speed up your visits to our eateries. Order in advance to reduce your contact and interaction with staff at our cafés, and be more efficient with your time. You can place your order hours ahead if you're sure of your schedule, or simply before walking over. Just skip the line and grab your meal from the pickup station. 

If you don't have a smartphone, just use a web browser on any computer or mobile device to place your order before heading to the eatery to pick it up. There is no fee for using GET Order to place your order.

Contactless payment

Most of Cornell Dining's eateries are cashless for safety and sanitation! We're using contactless payment methods, and instead of handing your Cornell ID card to a door-checker or cashier in our eateries, you'll use the GET My Card feature of the GET app to show a unique bar code representing your Cornell ID for both meal swipes and BRBs. We also have self-serve payment terminals for credit and debit cards, supporting Apple Pay and Google Wallet as well as chip cards.  

Reusable takeout containers

Many students and staff will be taking meals to go, and our reusable takeout container offers a way to reduce the waste of single-use plastic containers. Buy a reusable takeout container for a one-time charge of just $7.50, and when you bring it back rinsed on your next visit, you can swap it for a freshly washed and sanitized container at the door-checker station. Buy yours at any participating eatery, rinse it when you're done eating, and bring it back to any participating eatery for future meals.

Students with a meal plan that includes meal swipes will receive a reusable container at no charge at the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester. 

Meal Plans

Our student meal plans offer both meal swipes and Big Red Bucks (BRBs). Meal swipes can be used to enter and enjoy a meal at any of our ten residential dining rooms. Big Red Bucks are our declining-balance debit account, and 1 BRB is equivalent to $1. BRBs can be used to buy coffee or snacks at our coffee shops, soup or sandwiches at our cafés, full takeout meals, as well as a full meal at our dining rooms. You or a friend or family member can add to your BRBs balance at any time, and using BRBs means your purchase is not charged sales tax.

The Fall 2021 meal plan begins with lunch on Thursday, August 19th, and after you've checked in, our facilities will be fully open to you. After that, the meal plan week runs from Thursday to Wednesday each week for purposes of counting meal swipes per week. 

You can add or increase a meal plan at any time during the semester! The deadline for upperlevel students to reduce a meal plan for the fall semester is September 8th. 

New this year

Check out the brand new Crossings Café in Toni Morrison Hall featuring breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, fresh plant-forward bowls, and Peet's Coffee. Wraps and burritos and creative vegan options and local Copper Horse Coffee are the highlights at the new Mann Café. Morrison Dining will open in January, but we're taking the opportunity this fall to preview some of what you can expect there from handmade pasta and pizza to our Kosher and Halal stations.

Dining off campus

Just like Cornell Dining's eateries, restaurants in and around Ithaca are operating under Tompkins County and New York State health guidelines, which have the potential to change. In general, you can expect many eateries in the area to offer outdoor and limited-capacity indoor seating, and plenty of takeout and delivery options.

Cornell Dining's City Bucks program offers a declining balance debit account that allows you to enjoy delicious meals off campus at participating restaurants and food stores with a simple swipe of your Cornell ID card.

Jobs with Cornell Dining

We provide students with meaningful work opportunities and leadership positions! Whether you want to work in one of our residential dining locations or our coffee shops or cafés, whether you want to hone your culinary skills by working closely with a chef, we have a position for you. If you're looking to take on more of a leadership role, we have supervisor and student manager positions that can fit. Cornell Dining hires many full-time and part-time staff members for a wide range of positions and roles on campus, as well as a robust student staff team.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Cornell Dining is consistently ranked in the Princeton Review's top ten for best campus food among all colleges and universities in the country! That high rating comes from customer surveys, and reflects Cornell Dining's commitment to serving high-quality foods that are healthy and creatively prepared with genuine care for a diverse community. Cornell Dining operates over 30 on-campus eateries -- which include residential dining rooms, cafés, coffeehouses, food courts, and convenience stores -- and serves more than 23,000 meals a day to members of the Cornell community. For more information, visit dining.cornell.edu.

Any questions?

If there's anything we haven't covered, please reach out to dining@cornell.edu.