Red River College’s upscale restaurant Jane’s is about to get a whole lot more traffic and maybe even create the occasional traffic jam. Starting June 1, 2014 renovations to the William Avenue facade of the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, which houses the iconic restaurant, will include the addition of a drive-thru window.

Until now, Jane’s, a training ground in which RRC’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts students hone their skills, has focused on providing hands-on experience for five-star dining. But all that is about to change as the School adapts its curriculum and learning facilities to ensure it is providing students with a well-rounded education for the ever-changing hospitality landscape.

In addition to the drive-thru window, which will be open to the public this fall for pre-order pick-ups from Tuesday to Friday from 11am to 6pm, a significant portion of the dining area will also get a facelift. Starting in September, one quarter of the 80-seat restaurant will be sectioned off and converted to a casual sports lounge complete with an array of finger foods, a selection of micro-brews, and large-screen televisions for catching Jets games.

According to the School’s Dean, Keith Müller, the renovations have already drawn praise from students and customers – particularly from those living in the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute itself, which is also home to RRC’s 100-room student residence.

“One of the purposes of this shift is to ensure our graduates have the well-rounded education they need to succeed in the workforce —whether it’s at St. Charles Country Club, or at the neighborhood McDonald’s,” says Müller.

“We will soon have a much better facility for achieving that. For our students, it’s far less daunting to come and train in a facility that aligns with their career aspirations in this vast industry, whatever they may be. And it’s more accessible for our customers coming in to Jane’s, who can choose how they would like to experience our exceptional cuisine, from our Berkshire Pork Scaloppini with a fine Spanish Chardonnay surrounded by stunning turn-of-the-century architecture, to our Bacon Double-Cheeseburger to go.”

The forthcoming renovations are the result of many months of stakeholder consultation and planning, and will hopefully prove to be just the thing Jane’s eclectic mix of customers are looking for, says Müller.

In coming months, RRC’s Marketing team is considering changing the restaurant’s name from “Jane’s” to “Gullible’s”, in response to the fact there will inevitably be some who believed that this blog post was authentic, despite it being April 1^st. Happy April Fools’ Day from RRC.

Make a (sit-down) reservation at Jane’s →.