The Cafe on the Lincoln Campus opens March 30.

Southeast Community College will officially unveil the newly renovated Café on the Lincoln Campus March 30, the first day of the Spring Quarter.

The $2.5 million expansion has almost doubled the size of the eatery, adding many new food and beverage items for students, staff and faculty.

"We are most excited about all of the options we can provide to customers," said Food Service Manager Jeanette Lupori. "We were limited before with what we were able to offer."

Now diners have a variety of options to choose from, including grab-and-go snacks, salad and specialty bar, sandwich station, Valentino's pizza, a frost-top station for desserts, a grill and fryer area, breakfast bar, and bakery nook. There's also slushy machines as well as gourmet coffee offerings in addition to the fountain drinks.

"We can have up to three cashier lines so no one has to wait," Lupori said.

Lupori said one of the more exciting options is the build-your-own sandwich bar, which is similar to many of the popular deli sandwich shops around Lincoln.

There will be four choices of breads, as well as numerous options for meat, cheeses and additional toppings.

"This is SCC's take on Subway," Lupori said.

The renovation has increased seating capacity from 225 to 400, which will help with catering events and advisory meetings. There also is a commons area for students to plug in their laptops, relax or watch TV on one of the many television monitors on the walls. There also will be digital menu boards, which can be changed daily.

Students, faculty and staff can load money on to their SCC ID cards to purchase food, and there also are punch cards for frequent diners.

Several SCC culinary graduates currently work in the Café, including Lupori, who is a 1997 graduate, and assistant manager Tatje Alder, a 2011 graduate. There are 25 paid staff members, in addition to volunteers from the LPS VOICE program.