It’s a warm October afternoon. You just finished an exam. Exhausted, you begin your trek back to your dorm. As you cross the Quad, you notice a tent along the path, and your spirits begin to lift. It’s another dining pop-up.
“It’s also a marker that we have in Parkhurst for ourselves to be more community-based and more involved with the school itself and not just a third party,” said Shadeera Riddick, the marketing manager for college dining.
Parkhurst Dining spontaneous events bring free food or drinks — sushi, boba, tofu, shaved ice and more — to various areas around campus (usually the Quad) for Lafayette College students.
According to Riddick, Parkhurst Dining tries to do at least one pop-up every week. Many occur on food-related national holidays to celebrate, but Parkhurst will also collaborate with groups like the Office of Intercultural Development for Latinx Fest.
Some students said the pop-ups also create a social atmosphere.
“They really bring our campus closer together because I feel like I can meet with my friends and just eat in a very relaxed environment,” Alexis Conway ‘28 said. “The food also tends to be really good, so I just enjoy myself.”
Students often find out about these events by word of mouth or run into their friends while passing by the tent or a table in Farinon.
Riddick said that she and her team try to reflect student preferences and use responses from the dining surveys. If a specific food is more popular than another, they will try to bring it back again, like apple cider and donuts.
“The horchata was yummy, and I tried something new,” Nonu Raizada ‘26 said at a recent Cinco horchata pop-up for Hispanic Heritage Month.
“We’re asking some of our employees who identify with that background for their recipes to create a more authentic experience,” Riddick said.
Riddick said that the pop-ups are free to not “create a stress” for the students — a portion of the marketing budget is set aside for them.
At one pop-up, the coffee ice cream was, “a pleasing melange of robusta coffee and a creaminess that energizes and calms me at the same time,” said Caleb, a passerby who did not share his last name. He said that it was his first pop-up, and that he was looking forward to the next one.
Now that fall is in full swing, students can keep an eye out for donuts, hot apple cider and the annual Quad pumpkin patch, a partnership between Parkhurst and the Office of Sustainability.
“We want to make sure pumpkin waste isn’t spread and also available for their pumpkin carving event as well,” Riddick said. “Sustainability is a big initiative or a pillar within our dining services as well, so we try to incorporate that.”