Over winter break, the University plans to begin remodeling The Stein restaurant. Though plans have not yet left the early stages, with blueprints unfinished and timelines unclear, the University expects the Stein to reopen for students during the spring semester.

Jay DeGioia, Sodexo's resident district manager for Brandeis, wrote in an email to the Justice that The Stein closed just before Thanksgiving in anticipation of remodeling and construction, which Sodexo hopes to begin in early January and which DeGioia estimated could take three to six weeks. When it reopens its doors in the spring, The Stein may surprise students.

The Student Union sent out a survey by email on Nov. 9 to collect student feedback regarding the fate of The Stein. Though results from the survey showed that participating students preferred that the University put a franchise in the current location of The Stein, Sodexo and the Student Union decided to take a different direction, according to Class of 2017 Senator and Senate Chair of the Dining Committee David Heaton.

The survey sent out to the student population asked students to rate their preference as to what they would like to see from The Stein's upcoming renovations. The Student Union took these ratings and turned them into points that add up to a total score, according to Heaton, who said that most students gave the highest rating to the option of bringing a franchise onto campus in place of The Stein, while "keeping The Stein the same" and "turning it into a sports bar" came in second and third places, respectively.

However, Heaton said in an interview with the Justice that all three options ended up with very close scores, negating the presence of an overwhelmingly popular opinion pervading the student body in regard to what should become of The Stein.

Analyzing the data, the Student Union and Sodexo decided to take the options that received the second two highest scores-"keeping The Stein the same" and "turning it into a sports bar"-and work on "revamping" the eatery to fit both criteria, according to Heaton. Since The Stein currently presents itself as a quasi-sports bar, Sodexo's goal of "establish[ing] a Brandeis signature pub that is rich in history and would become a landmark in the Brandeis community," according to DeGoia, would involve remodeling the dining room as well as culinary changes.

Plans currently in discussion for the new Stein restaurant, according to Heaton, include a brand-new menu, which would include pizzas baked in a "hearth" oven, or open-flame pizza oven. Though students expressed dissatisfaction with the idea of opening a pizzeria on campus, Heaton said that the proposed menu would offer a large option of additional items. The bonus of the pizza oven, according to Heaton, would be the reintroduction of delivery from The Stein.

According to Heaton, putting a franchise in that particular location would disadvantage students, as both students and the University would lose much of the control over one of the dining locations controlled by the University. Even in the scenario that a franchise would comply with requests to shut down for events taking place in the nearby Sherman Function Hall, opening the location to a franchise would cause students to lose some influence over food options, and the University would only have power to urge the franchise to listen to student demands, according to Heaton, without any guarantee of compliance. "If we brought in a franchise we'd have absolutely no say," said Heaton.

Though Sodexo has brought several franchises to Brandeis since the beginning of the semester, the Stein has a particularly unique characteristic which causes complications when considering whether or not a franchise should replace it. After The Stein stops serving dinner, the location becomes Ollie's Eatery, a late-night eatery which serves breakfast to night-owls.

According to DeGioia, one of "the most important identifiers in the survey conducted," aside from students' "desire to control the menu," concerned the fate of Ollie's. According to Heaton, bringing in a franchise would eliminate Ollie's, a dining option that is popular among students, according to the results from the survey. Thus the University rejects not the option of a franchise, but the eradication of Ollie's, among other losses of control, which would automatically follow the introduction of a franchise into the location of The Stein.

The decision not to find a franchise to replace The Stein considered student opinions taken from the survey results, but ultimately the Student Union's analysis of the results led to a compromise that would preserve the option of maintaining Ollie's while still appealing to a majority opinion. However, plans to bring in a franchise have not been dropped completely, but instead are being reevaluated.

"A chain restaurant isn't out of the question at this point," said DeGioia, "but I think the question is 'Where is the best location for a national brand on campus?'"

That question has already undergone discussion, according to Heaton, who said that the Student Union and Sodexo discussed bringing a franchise to the Usdan Student Center, since the survey showed the desire of students to have another franchise as a dining option. No decisions have been made regarding a new franchise in Usdan Student Center as of yet, said Heaton.