Residential and Dining Enterprises (R&DE) opted to close Casper Dining on weekends for the 2025-26 school year as part of a campus-wide effort to restructure dining hall menus.
Casper’s reduced hours are part of a slew of recent changes to campus dining halls. Branner Dining is now completely allergen-free, and all dining halls have shifted from a three- to five-week meal cycle to “eliminate menu fatigue,” according to chef Mychel Brewster, the assistant director and executive chef of Arrillaga Family Dining Commons.
Based on feedback from the Student Dining Committee Program, response forms and office hours, Brewster said Stanford chefs worked over the summer to create a dining experience fit for every student.
“We also have to be cognizant of the population, whether it’s allergies or religious dietary needs,” Brewster said. “So, we always try to meet that scope.”
A consequence of Casper Dining’s weekend closures is the loss of its brunch service — and subsequently, its famous crepes.
R&DE now offers crepes at Arrillaga on the weekends in an effort to “make sure that [students] weren’t as impacted” by Casper’s new hours, according to Brewster. Crepes are also available at Florence Moore (FloMo) dining for weekend brunch.
“Last year, I purchased meal blocks for the sole purpose of sharing brunch at Casper with my archery team members before team practice, a years-long tradition,” said Megan Coram, a third-year Ph.D. student. “With no brunch at Casper or EVGR dining, there is no longer a convenient place for me, since Arrillaga is further away and in the wrong direction [from the archery range].”
“As a former Lantana resident, it’s definitely disappointing that I can’t eat brunch on the weekends at Casper anymore,” said Phoebe Pan ’28 in response to the closure. “It’s confusing that the school would cancel something that students loved as much as Casper crepes.”
Cuts to Casper’s dining hours were necessitated by the expansion of meal options and dining hours at Branner Dining, Brewster said. All meals served at Branner are now prepared without the top nine allergens — milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy and sesame — and the chefs at Branner are specifically trained to avoid cross-contamination. Brewster said that before these changes, options for students with dietary restrictions such as allergies or religious observations weren’t secure enough.
“It was really important for [students with dietary restrictions] to have a place where they could feel safe, but then also have delicious meals that aren’t repetitive,” said Brewster.
This year, R&DE will also offer more plant-based meal options. According to Brewster, to promote nutrition and lower the University’s carbon footprint, tempeh and jackfruit will be available as vegan protein alternatives.
Chefs, per student request, have introduced more salmon to dining halls this year. Dining halls will also offer dinner specials, which will be posted on the R&DE website on Oct. 20. Students will be able to see the planned dinner specials through December.
The dinner specials will be the same all week at each dining hall but different across dining halls. “That way, if you miss a day, you can still go, or if you want to do a dining hall hop or crawl one day a week, there is a different special,” said Brewster.