Silo

The Silo's exterior (2003).

Hours

Monday-Thursday 7:30am-9pm

Friday 7:30am-5pm

Note: hours vary, depending on the eatery and time of year;

Website

http://sodexho.ucdavis.edu/locations_ret_silo.html

Looking down on the tables from the second story (2006).

The Silo Union, better known as simply "The Silo", was originally built in 1909 (see also Historic Places) and was one of the first buildings erected on the University Farm. It is located on the southwest part of the campus, near the Physical Sciences and Engineering buildings. Originally used as a Dairy Barn, it was converted to a snack bar and recreation center in 1965. among other uses over the past century. Today the Silo serves as a campus meeting area, conference room (Cabernet Room), lounge and eatery, housing these food services primarily operated by Sodexho:

• Cafe Fresca Deli
  

• La Crêpe Crepes
  

• Brenan's Starbucks — pours more than 6,000 beverages weekly. This is a mini Starbucks and doesn't serve all of the normal Starbucks drinks.
  

• SubCity Sandwiches
  

• Pizza Hut Express —biggest seller is its Supreme Pizza, which is boxed up and sold individually 1,200 times each week.
  

• Carl's Jr. — most popular product is the Famous Star hamburger. Students consume 1,200 of them a week.
  

• Taco Bell Express—2,800 tacos and 2,000 bean burritos are purchased weekly
  

• Gunrock Pub formerly called Silo Pub and Cafe

The Silo has a microwave you can use to heat up your food (save some money and bring some leftovers with you) as well as meeting/conference facilities and lounges. The Silo eateries are run by Sodexho (not by the university or ASUCD) through a multi-year campus contract; other facilities within the Silo are operated by the university.

In the South Silo are:

• the Experimental College
  

• Student Special Services
  

• Craft Center
  

• Graduate Student Association
  

• The Silo Bookstore, a branch of the UC Davis Bookstore serving the School of Law.

The Silo hours are posted on the website, but are often out of date, and never cover the summer session hours which are significantly shorter than the regular quarter hours. Current hours are posted in the windows of the Silo.
For Summer Session II, 2009, the silo hours are:
Taco Bell - M-F: 11:00-2:30
Pizza Hut - M-F: 11:00-2:30
Pub - M-F: 11:30-1:30
Grab'N'Go - M-R: 8:30-400, F: 8:30-3:00
Carls Jr - M-R: 9:30-4:00, F: 9:30-3:00
Sandwiches - M-R: 11:30-2:00, F: 11:30-1:30
Brennan's - M-R: 7:00-3:00, F: 7:00-2:00
Crepe - M-R: 11:00-2:00, F: CLOSED

There are bright blue ventilation ducts along the ceiling. Taken at a time when the Ivy was less lush (Feb 18, 2000)

Pizza hut to the left, Taco Bell to the right

Comments:

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• It kind of bothers me that there are outside commercial interests represented on a public university campus. - KenjiYamada
  

• Me too. I think it's because the Silo is run by Sodexho. I'd much rather go to the Coffee House - PhilipNeustrom
  

• Yeah, I don't have a problem with ASUCD businesses. At least their profits are all reinvested into the university. - KenjiYamada
  

• I only mind the worst outside interests—you can't really get rid of them all. I just wish they weren't super-huge corporations. Like I don't mind the crepe cart. But I do mind the corporate fast food. But yeah, CoHo generally does an impressive job. I read somewhere that it's the biggest restaurant in Northern California. Sodexho is also familar with huge restaruants— they used to do all the catering for certain prisons, and apparently these substandard meals were the basis for several human rights lawsuits. They apparently sold off that division, but really— does that make them less cupable for any wrongs that may have occurred? - jr
  

2005-06-27 04:38:34   I would like to take a survey. Basically asking whether people would want the Silo to be more like the MU. The objective is to see how many people would like to kick Sodexho out. Going in there, I feel like I'm at a food court at a Mall or an airport - they have little interest in providing healthy food or things for people with special dietary needs. I think sodexho taints the university as a public institution. But then again, I am a wacko. —ChristopherMckenzie

2005-10-23 22:47:01   The MU is a short walk away for those who prefer not to patronize the big corporations. I usually prefer the MU but sometimes crave Taco Bell (when I want a break from the health kick). The only downside is that MU food isn't available as late in the evening as Silo food (I think). —ReginaSikora

2007-03-05 22:16:29   UCD students have a broad range of dining options available to them, on campus and off. The fact that the businesses within the Silo have survived, is evidence that there is demand among students for those foods. Taking those businesses away would just result in students' having to go elsewhere (possibly to an inconvenient location off campus) for those foods. In other words, Silo customers are aware of both the philosophy and the products of the ASUCD-run CoHo, but choose the Silo for its menu offerings. I think that those who take serious issue with Sodexho's policies would do better to focus their efforts on the Sodexho-run dining commons, as this is where the true monopoly -over freshman dining- is. —LeonardMarque

2007-05-08 11:49:21   The taco bell at the silo really is taco hell, it takes forever and a day even when there is no line to make the food which 75% of the time is sub par. It got zesty nachos, and the lacked the zesty sauce, which would make it a different product, the nacho bell grande EXPRESS always comes skimps on the toppings, and appears generally lackluster. Then again I eat there for free most of the time so why should I complain? If I want "good" taco bell I hit up G street. —StevenDaubert

2007-09-29 18:26:42   do you have to be a student to eat here? —WhitneyMartinez

• No. While there might be a technical rule at the dorms or something like that, non-students can eat anywhere on campus, and if there is a rule for the dorms, it isn't enforced as friends, family (parents visiting), etc. can be seen at times. The Silo in particular would be fine; right next to it is the Craft Center, which is also open to non-students. In general non-students have access to most resources on campus (library, meetings, etc), they just can't sponsor or host them. Basically, the Silo is a fast-food court located on campus for the convenience of people working at and attending the university. —JabberWokky
  

• Anyone can eat at the DC, they just have to either be "swiped-in" or pay the cashier at the front. You see cops and professors there all the time. —KellyCorcoran
  

2009-04-12 18:57:37   This comment is coming from three past Sodexho employees, now university. We are tired of people complaining about Sodexho being a horrible employer. They may not be the best, but they are better than what we have now. Sodexho offers the part-time student workers, the majority of the silo workforce, benefits of free meals (up to $6), book-aid and tuition-aid. Now under university control we have a limited menu of food we can have. (I am grateful that we get any food at all.) The university promised to keep the book-aid and tuition aid, but the student workers haven’t seen a dime of that promise. For students who live pay check to pay check, the new bi-weekly paycheck system is a huge hassle, not only because of the long wait period between checks but because we have to enter our hours online and have a Sodexho retail manager approve, wasting more time, instead of having the upstairs office fill in the time sheets and giving us our checks on Friday. (Yes, I know that you would have biweekly at any "normal" job but that is what made working for Sodexho nice.)
The majority of the working students could not go to the town hall meetings for Sodexho employees either because they worked or had class during the meetings. The silo student employees didn't have a voice in the change. The protesters, majority of which did not work for Sodexho, advocated for change for the downtrodden worker never asked the student workers if change is what they wanted. —BettyThayer