Delta State cafeteria expands summer lunch hours for campus diners

Young-Mauldin Dining Hall now gives Cleveland diners a reliable lunch stop six days a week, with summer service running Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., while staying closed on Saturdays. The cafeteria sits at 200 Washington Street on the Delta State University campus, across from the swimming complex, and the schedule turns it into a practical midday option for students, staff and local residents who want a fast, sit-down meal without leaving campus.

The dining hall is set up as an all-you-care-to-eat operation with several stations, including a grill, deli, salad bar and hot entrees that rotate between international and home-style dishes. Diners can pay per meal or use a prepaid community punch card that covers 20 meals for $160, a structure that makes the cafeteria easier to budget around than a daily run to a different lunch counter. Delta State also offers commuter and resident meal plans, and campus dining accepts FLEX, Campus Dining Dollars, Okra Green, credit card and cash.

The menu still leans on the kinds of weekly dishes that have long made the cafeteria familiar to regulars. General manager Taliah Brown said fried chicken on Wednesdays and fish on Fridays remain part of the summer rhythm, along with the salad bar, dessert bar, pizza station and main line. A 2023 feature on the cafeteria said fried chicken Wednesday, fried fish Friday and Sunday brunch were big draws, while the salad bar held 40-plus items and was described as the biggest in Mississippi. That same account said the operation employed about 80 people and served both students and local residents.

Brown said the cafeteria can feed several hundred people a day and continues catering through the summer, including larger events such as weddings and business meetings, extending its reach beyond daily lunch service. For to-go orders, the cafeteria has also shifted to more environmentally friendly plates and utensils, a small operational change that reflects how campus dining is adapting to everyday use.

Young-Mauldin’s place on campus carries its own history. Delta State says the Young Wing honors Dr. Albert Leon Young, a faculty member when the university opened in 1925, and the Mauldin Wing honors Katie Durelle Mauldin, who served from 1929 to 1961. The cafeteria reopened after a $9.2 million renovation in 2019, when the restored 1964 landmark was described as a “flying saucer,” and it remains one of the few places in Cleveland where campus food service doubles as a community lunch counter.