A failure at the T.B. Simon Power Plant, which produces electricity and steam power for campus, led to multiple dining hall closures over the weekend. Dining halls served adapted menus to cater to the lack of gas, but limited options led many students to Grand River Ave. businesses instead. 

Psychology freshman Moriah Campbell waited over an hour on Saturday night for a DoorDash delivery from Firehouse Subs. Afterwards, she and her friends went for a walk to get out of the dorms.

“The dining halls were closed and they didn’t announce the limited menus until later, after Sparty's was closed and our microwave wasn’t working,” Campbell said. 

Auntie Anne’s employee Matt Wagdmann said the outage was “helpful” for their business. It was “a positive thing” since it brought in so many customers.

Wagdmann said Auntie Anne’s had to tell people to come in early to adjust for the unexpected rush and the influx of orders.

"We had a new person training that day," Wagdmann said. 

Some businesses were already prepared for a dinner rush, even with the unexpected outage. 

“We didn’t have to call anybody in," Cottage Inn worker Joe Grove said. "Everyone we needed was already here."

“It wasn’t really packed,” Grove said. “Students would wander in, but then the phones kept ringing and ringing and online orders kept coming through.” 

During the power outage, Cottage Inn received more online orders than usual, Grove said. 

Many of the students at Cottage Inn took their food elsewhere, but others were “sitting and chilling” because “they had issues getting back into their dorms, and they were looking for a place to hang out and charge their phones.”