A New View for Skyviews

By Gary Vaughn for Texas Tech University | June 22, 2009

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Skyviews of Texas Tech will soon be getting a new home overlooking Jones AT&T Stadium.

University officials plan to relocate the combination restaurant and teaching lab from it’s current location on the sixth floor of the Texas Tech Plaza building to a new, larger space on the east side of Jones AT&T Stadium.

“After 20 years of educating students and pleasing palates on the South Plains, it’s time for Skyviews to expand,” said Shane Blum, chairman of Texas Tech University’s Department of Nutrition, Hospitality and Retailing.

The move is expected to address limitations of the current facility, while preserving the restaurant’s signature views of the Texas Tech University campus and downtown Lubbock.

When built in 1989, the existing kitchen area, which covers 926 square feet, was never designed to provide space for student instruction and meals for a full-service restaurant. Today, 10 students at a time, crowd into the cramped prep space to observe faculty demonstrations.

The new kitchen and instructional area at Jones AT&T Stadium will be 2,703 square feet and will comfortably accommodate classes of 25 students. An expanded demonstration area will allow instructors and guest chefs to better teach and observe as students hone their management and culinary skills.

“A larger, improved cooking space and new teaching area will be an enormous benefit to Skyviews of Texas Tech,” added Blum. “The spacious, 2,085 square foot dining room overlooking the football field and university campus will be a welcome addition to the Skyviews dining experience.”

The $1 milllion project is expected to allow the Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management program to more than double class sizes, providing increased enrollment capacity and allowing more students to graduate on time.