Merrill Virtual Food Hall's hours are here to stay, CMU officials say
Students pick up their meals from the Merrill Virtual Food Hall, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (CMLife | Alivia Cranick)
In response to students wanting a change in Merrill Virtual Food Hall’s hours, senior marketing director for Central Michigan University Dining Amy Probst said there are currently no plans to change weekend operations.
“Opening Merrill on weekends would likely require closing another dining hall during those same hours,” Probst wrote in an emailed statement.
Merrill Virtual Food Hall, located in South Community, is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Dine and Connect in East Community and the Eatery in Towers stay open when Merrill is closed.
Probst said Merrill’s hours are based primarily on student participation, enrollment and operational needs. She also said the demand for dining services is lower over the weekends because fewer students stay on campus during that time.
The university considers student accessibility and available resources across campus when deciding which dining halls are open on the weekends, she said. If Merrill were to become open over the weekend, the Eatery would have to be closed.
“CMU finds it important to have dining halls on both ends of campus open,” Probst said. “With Merrill and Dine and Connect being so close to one another, the Eatery has university preference over Merrill.”
She said staffing is also a reason for the dining halls hours of operation.
Last semester, the Student Government Association passed legislation stating students wanted to see Merrill open over the weekend. Author of the legislation, Aiden Partenio, said he spoke with CMU Dining’s resident district manager, Ryan Ferguson, on Aug. 7 about the labor and cost to run Merrill on Fridays.
“We had looked into options for having it only open a certain number of Fridays, only open the late night hours, like 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and only with a limited food item,” Partenio said. “We haven't made any progress there because that is a big money piece.”
Partenio first reached out to dining services on Jan. 27 about opening Merrill, but didn’t get a response. It wasn’t until the legislation was passed that CMU Dining started to communicate. He said that despite the reasons Probst explained, he will continue to look into what can be done.
Probst said the university would likely need to see changes in the following factors for Merrill’s hours to change:
- Overall demand for weekend dining
- Enrollment trends
- Funding
- University priorities
- Student participation
