The next twist in a series of changes to the BYU Cougareat has just been announced, and is already causing a controversy among on-campus dining enthusiasts. In a statement released by BYU this week, Director of Dining Services Dean Wright stated plans to open an Applebee’s location in the Cougareat.

“We’ve never received a single request for an Applebee’s, but decided there is a market for sub-par casual dining on campus,” stated Wright. “We wanted to give students the opportunity to be mildly disappointed over pasta and burgers without having to visit both Olive Garden and the BYU Creamery.”

Of the reactions to this unexpected development, two of the most common were succinctly stated in the following tweet by marksuccerberg420: “Uh… why? And also how???” 

While Wright has declined to further explain BYU’s rationale, he later released a more specific memo detailing how a sit-down restaurant like Applebee’s would function in the fast-food dominated Cougareat. To be “as impartial as possible,” Wright stated that he used a random selection method to pick Aloha Plate as the host kitchen for the new Applebee’s. Aloha Plate will be open only from 2-3pm on Mon-Tues to accommodate the new arrangements.

One of the primary logistical challenges, however, will be seating. “Finding space in the already crowded seating area for a sit-down restaurant was a significant difficulty” noted the memo. “In order to preserve the unofficial one-person-per-table rule of the Cougareat, we decided to move all of the standing tables to a corner and offer them to Applebee’s patrons.” Luckily, in a recent poll only 0.1% of BYU students reported to regularly using the standing tables, so this decision will likely be minimally inconvenient.

Challenges aside, the announcement of this new venture could indicate that more exciting changes to the Cougareat are on their way.