One week after the South Campus Dining Hall implemented changes to remain open between 7 and 9 p.m., about 200 students a day used the extended hours.

Dining Services spokesman Bart Hipple said from 7:45 p.m. and 9 p.m. each day, between 202 and 237 students visited the diner, noting numbers will probably rise in the following weeks. Hipple said he does not expect the change to impact sales overall because students are merely choosing to visit the diner during the new times, not making additional trips.

Hipple added last week’s sales were down because the April 9 debut of the extra hours overlapped with Passover, which began April 6.

To make the transition, Dining Services rearranged the schedules of just 20 employees – they either begin working earlier or later or took their break at a different time, Hipple said. He added implementing the new schedules did not cost Dining Services any money.

“Even though it’s harder for us, we’re doing it for the students,” he said.

Maria Binger, a sophomore psychology major, said she was excited she could grab a sandwich at the dining hall Monday night after a movie made her miss the earlier dinner hours.

“I came on the first day it was open, so there weren’t a lot of people,” Binger said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had dinner.”

Although the North Campus Dining Hall has had the same extended hours for nearly a decade, Hipple said the dining halls operated on different hours largely because they see different amounts of traffic.

While high-rise dorms on North Campus house thousands of freshmen and sophomores with dining plans, many students living near the South Campus Dining Hall have their own kitchens and can walk to restaurants on Route 1.

Hipple said Dining Services eliminated the 7 to 9 p.m. gap at the North Campus Dining Hall because it was experiencing an influx of customers near the end of the dinner period and employees were unable to provide adequate service.

“When we did it at North Campus, we were solving a problem. … It got so insanely busy between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. that you couldn’t move,” Hipple said. “At South Campus, it’s not busy to that extent at dinner, so expanding the hours of operation wouldn’t result in better service in that same sense.”

Sophomore business major Adriana Arandia said she had not realized the dining hall would still be open, but noted it was a welcome surprise.

“I think that’s a normal hour to get dinner: from 7 to 9 … not before 7, not after 9,” Arandia said. “It was awesome. There were not many options, but it was OK.”

gray@umdbk.com