UALR’s food service contractor, Sodexo, invites all faculty and staff to a discount barbecue from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, for dinner and a taste of company’s new meal plan.

For $3.50, UALR faculty and staff will be served up a full meal of an entree, two sides, salad, soup, dessert and a 32 -ounce drink to get a taste and feel of the new Diamond Cafe operation in the Donaghey Student Center.

Justin Roberson, Sodexo’s UALR marketing coordinator, said the event will provide faculty and staff a full-size sample of the $7.50 lunches and dinners Sodexo will be serving up daily. The Diamond Cafe’s breakfast, served from 7 to 9 a.m., are $5.

Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. Brunch will be served from 10 a.m. to 1 on Saturdays and Sundays with weekend dinners from 5 to 7 p.m.

“Thursday’s barbecue will help introduce the faculty and staff meal plans. Roberson said. “They can use the meal cards until the value is used up – like a prepaid debit card.”

With nearly 1,000 students living in campus housing, food service at the DSC switched from a la carte to a residential board operation. Hungry students, faculty, and staff still will have the option of grabbing a la carte food and drink from Quizos, Taco Bell, the Sub Connection, and Starbucks on campus.

Roberson said “a campus meal plan assures parents of students living on campus that their student is eating well.”