Nearly two years in the planning and a winter break’s worth of execution to carry out, Panther Dining Hall has undergone a makeover.
Gone are 50 of the original 100 tables installed when Florida Tech’s premier dining venue opened nearly 15 years ago. (They were donated to Brevard County schools.) Gone are tattered old booths.
The era of high-tops is now upon us. New to the dining hall are 27 high-top tables: 12 facing windows and boasting uniquely patterned chairs, and another 15 in the heart of the room.
The project also added six butcher-block community tables with cobalt blue wooden stools, three red booths, 50 rectangular tables and 20 smaller, square tables.
“We saw the need to add unique seating options to accommodate changing social patterns of our student body,” said Campus Dining Director Evan Olsen, who started working on the project in spring 2023.
The changes have boosted total seating 8% to 470, he noted.
The changes have also boosted the capsaicin level at Panther Dining Hall. A vastly expanded array of hot sauces hand-curated by Dining Manager John Padula is available and will soon feature 58 unique and exotic options. (That number look familiar? It’s the year Florida Tech was founded.)
Among the bottles currently in stock: Pup & The Pepper’s Scarlet Reaper sauce, winner of 2nd place in the 2024 Scovie Awards “Specialty Chile – XXX Hot” category. The company gives a portion of its sales to animal rescue groups, Padula noted.
