By Samantha Smith
For The Daily Athenaeum
Students packed the Mountainlair Green Wednesday for the Taste of WVU event hosted by WVU Hospitality Group.
WVU Hospitality Group was introduced to West Virginia University’s campus in summer 2025 after the University terminated its contract with Sodexo. Elior Collegiate Dining and the University created WVU Hospitality Group replacing WVU Dining Services. This is WVU Hospitality Group’s second year on campus.
The event was free for WVU students and included a punch card for a sample at nine of the participating dining locations.
All three dining halls were represented and were battling for the best dining hall belt, and the participating retail locations were competing for the best retail location trophy.
“There are at least a thousand kids here right now; they are trying everything; they have a card, they get to go around, get nine samples. They get to vote, and the best dining hall gets a belt, and the best retail gets a trophy,” Kylie Harrison, WVU Hospitality Group retail director, said.
The event was created to let freshmen and new students try out the dining locations on campus.
“Our customer base, our first-year students, they may not be aware of all the locations that we have around campus,” Eric Barker, WVU Hospitality Group regional director of campus dining, said.
Barker said he hopes this event will continue.
“Our goal is to do one every fall semester, similar to this. To be as an introduction to our customer base as to where everything is. But at the same time, continue to keep hype going, continuing to build upon what we’re currently offering so that we’re meeting the needs of our customers moving forward,” he said.
Students had the opportunity to try new menu items.
“I just wanted to try the different foods around campus. … the lemonade at Chick-fil-A, they have, like, a strawberry lemonade,” senior WVU student Amanda Burns said.
WVU Hospitality Group’s newest dining locations, Santorini and Take Me Home Soda Shoppe, were in attendance, showcasing their menus to students.
“We also wanted to showcase the Take Me Home location, which is brand new for us, featuring dirty sodas, and so really just to hype all of that as well as to have an outdoor event and get some feedback from students about what they’d like to see in dining halls, in retail and everything in between,” Barker said.
For more information on WVU Hospitality Group and its locations and menus, visit dining.wvu.edu.
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