{"id":22864,"date":"2026-09-21T02:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T02:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/22864\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T02:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T02:00:33","slug":"whats-new-with-atlanta-campus-dining-for-fall-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/22864\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s new with Atlanta campus dining for fall 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FastThe Drop on Mercer’s Atlanta campus. Photo by Shonda Lewis<\/p>\n

Mercer University has revamped dining on its Atlanta campus in response to student requests and catering needs. Located in the Student Affairs Building, the cafeteria once known as Toby\u2019s has been transformed into The Drop, a virtual kitchen experience with contactless food pickup.<\/p>\n

Ken Boyer, associate vice president for auxiliary services, said Mercer Culinary Group has taken what it has learned from the success of The Drop location on the Macon campus and used it to create an Atlanta dining experience that better meets the needs of its unique student population.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercer wanted to create greater consistency in the dining experience across both the Macon and Atlanta campuses while introducing more innovation and flexibility for the Atlanta campus community,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cBy extending our partnership with Mercer Culinary Group, we gained the expertise and flexibility necessary to turn that vision into a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Drop is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30-10 a.m. for breakfast and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. for lunch\/dinner; and Friday, 7:30-10 a.m. for breakfast and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. for lunch. The restaurant offers made-to-order daily staples like burgers, chicken tenders and fries, as well as a rotating menu.<\/p>\n

\"EntranceThe Drop hosts a celebration for McAfee School of Theology\u2019s Founders\u2019 Day and National Banana Split Day on Aug. 25. Photo by Shonda Lewis<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rotating menu is an important part of keeping the dining experience fresh and giving guests more variety,\u201d said Vivian Byrd, food service director and executive chef for the Atlanta campus. \u201cRotating selections will allow our culinary team to introduce different cuisines, seasonal flavors and plant-forward dishes. We plan to refresh these offerings regularly, so guests have opportunities to discover something new while still having access to the favorites they know and enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the rotating menus, offerings include breakfast items, pizza, customizable salads and sandwiches, freshly prepared entr\u00e9es and comfort-food favorites, and boba and coffee beverages, said Ed Robertson, district manager of Mercer\u2019s Macon and Atlanta campuses.<\/p>\n

\"FiveStudents enjoy ice cream sundaes at The Drop during a celebration for McAfee School of Theology\u2019s Founders\u2019 Day and National Banana Split Day on Aug. 25. Photo by Shonda Lewis<\/p>\n

\u201cThese additions give us more flexibility to respond to student preferences and introduce new flavors and concepts throughout the academic year,\u201d he said. \u201cUltimately, the goal was to modernize the dining experience while providing convenient, high-quality options that better reflect how students dine today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercerians can order food through a mobile app or a kiosk in the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows them to place orders before they leave their classroom or office, and their food will be ready when they get there,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping the new options will satisfy everyone\u2019s cravings with a rotating menu and add some spice with the changes. Students were looking for expanded options.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to a revamped look, the dining area has been outfitted with upgraded equipment and enhanced technology, Byrd said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe space received a comprehensive refresh to create a cleaner, more modern and welcoming environment,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cWe also looked at the space from an operational standpoint to improve efficiency and create an environment that can support a broader variety of food concepts and service needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Mercer Culinary Group has switched from an outside catering vendor for its Atlanta campus events to in-house catering services, Boyer said. These expanded catering options will make it easier for student and campus groups to incorporate food into their meetings and programs, Byrd said.<\/p>\n

\"EmptyThe Drop on Mercer\u2019s Atlanta campus. Photo by Shonda Lewis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Drop on Mercer’s Atlanta campus. Photo by Shonda Lewis Mercer University has revamped dining on its Atlanta campus in response to student requests and catering needs. Located in the Student Affairs Building, the cafeteria once known as Toby\u2019s has been transformed into The Drop, a virtual kitchen experience with contactless food pickup. Ken Boyer,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2963,2961,2959,2962,2960],"class_list":["post-22864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-georgia","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-dining","tag-georgia-food","tag-georgia-grocery-stores","tag-georgia-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117306564606869062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}