USC Hospitality said that some of its options may have gotten too popular for their own good, creating long lines that many students are familiar with. This semester, it looked to refresh its options and spread them out for “faster throughput.”

As part of this plan, USC Hospitality opened The Upstairs, a dining location on the second floor of Tutor Campus Center at the start of Fall 2026. It features ramen, poke bowls, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf beverages and Sharetea.

Crowding downstairs at Seeds was a deterrent to getting poke for Hannah Jefferson, a senior majoring in health and the human sciences, an issue acknowledged by Dirk de Jong, assistant vice president for Hospitality and USC Hotel.

“If I had a late class like 12, 1, 2 [p.m.], I wouldn’t eat here. I would eat in the dining hall,” Jefferson said. 

Poke was previously offered downstairs in Seeds Marketplace while Sharetea moved from Tutor Hall Cafe within the Viterbi School of Engineering buildings. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf beverages will continue to be served in their downstairs location in the morning, until The Upstairs opens at noon. Meanwhile, the ramen options represent the expansion of a Spring 2026 pop-up organized by Hospitality upstairs. 

Aanya Lall, a sophomore majoring in economics and data science, said that last year at noon or 1 p.m. in Seeds Marketplace, at times, she “could not walk, there were so many people.”

De Jong said crowding at Seeds Marketplace is responsible for multiple moves Hospitality has made in recent years, namely, moving chicken tenders to Burger Crush in the campus center food court and spinning off teriyaki bowls into the Bowls concept.

“The salad and poke bowl area in Seeds was just super cramped because it was so popular,” de Jong said. “So that’s why we looked at giving the salad station more of an opportunity to be able to have a faster throughput, increase our speed of service there and have a better way to pick up if you order in advance.”

With high temperatures at the start of the semester, Crystal Liang, a freshman majoring in business administration, was attracted to the air-conditioned space and the poke option, but the space was already popular enough that she said it was difficult to find a seat at The Upstairs.

“I wanted to get something that was cold because it’s so hot, and also I have assignments to do, so I just wanted … a light lunch for me to get my work done,” said Liang. 

De Jong said Seeds has historically seen between 3,000 and 3,500 customers a day, and that The Upstairs fills a gap of later-hour food options with dining options that are open in the evening. 

“We have a lot of great options during the day and during the early part of dinner, but later at night the options become a little bit more limited,” de Jong said. “We want to try to provide more options for students on campus, so we can create that experience and they don’t have to go outside of the campus perimeter to enjoy community with each other.”

The Upstairs is open until 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, until 11 p.m. on Thursdays and 4 p.m. on Fridays.

De Jong said the department chose to create a new space rather than expand the hours of the existing restaurants because The Upstairs created more of an opportunity to create a shared space than the food court below. 

“[The food court], it’s more of a functional place where you go to grab a quick bite, and then you’re on your way,” de Jong said. “[The] Upstairs place, it really is kind of like a cafe where you can just hang out. It has a little patio to the side. … It’s on the second floor. It has a nice view over campus.”

The second floor of the campus center used to operate as a restaurant called Lemonade before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, postpandemic, de Jong said the school didn’t see enough demand to justify reopening the second floor until last academic year.

“The demand really was there starting last year when we made enhancements to our meal plan program, and because of that flexibility, the ability to now use your meal plan swipes at [TCC] now drove more demand over there,” said de Jong, referring to the introduction of the Flex 120 plan as the required meal plan for students living in USC housing beyond their first year. 

The Flex 120 plan moved students from 40 swipes a semester to 120 and expanded their use from allowing access only to the dining halls to include other TCC offerings. 

De Jong said that by Hospitality operating the restaurants itself rather than partnering with an outside entity, it will have flexibility to change the offerings of The Upstairs as they wane in popularity. 

Meanwhile, to fill the space occupied by Sharetea at Tutor Hall Cafe, de Jong said Hospitality’s Indian food concept will expand to offer beverage options. He said the department has also expanded the sushi offerings at Seeds Marketplace to made-to-order options.

“We’re always looking at enhancing the experience at Seeds and any of our venues, based on the feedback that we receive and the enhancements that we make based on industry trends,” de Jong said.