Brenan Connolly’s loss is the campus’s gain.

For about the last 10 years we saw his name attached to the Silo coffee bar. Now, Brenan’s is gone.

But Connolly, a manager with University Dining Services, isn’t upset, and you shouldn’t be, either, especially if you like Starbucks.

“On with newer and better things,” said Connolly, who formerly worked in University Dining Services’ retail operations and now runs residential dining (in the dining commons).

“Newer and better” refers to the full-fledged Starbucks that is expected to open by the end of next week in place of Brenan’s. (It was never his, of course; Connolly laughingly recalled how he “won” the naming rights by default — when he missed a meeting and his fellow managers decided to put his name on the coffee bar!)

Brenan’s “proudly brewed” Starbucks coffee — but that’s it, as far as the Starbucks brand was concerned. The new Silo coffee operation will be a Starbucks through and through, with all of the Starbucks products, from beverages to sandwiches, just like University Dining Services' licensed Starbucks in the Activities and Recreation Center.

The Silo Starbucks will include seating like you see in other Starbucks, and a special seating area that you are unlikely to see anywhere else: a circular table IN the silo — the silo that gives the Silo its name.

“It should be very cool to sit at that table and look up into the silo,” said Brett Burns, executive director of Memorial Union Auxiliary Services, which runs the Silo.

Changes inside and out

Construction has been under way since summer, as part of a larger Silo rehabilitation.

Upstairs, construction workers removed a couple of offices to make room for more seating (dining and lounge-style) and renovated the restrooms. Downstairs, construction workers ripped out Brenan’s, put in the Starbucks, moved the men’s restroom and renovated the women’s restroom. And, in a project that ranged from the first to second floors, construction workers took out the staircase on the Silo’s east end, to make way for the Starbucks and the new men’s restroom.

There is a plan for the outside, too: a covered, open-air structure, similar to the farmers market canopy in Davis’ Central Park.

The Silo canopy, expected to open in the 2011-12 academic year, is being built for food trucks and carts — which will roll in and out on a daily basis. The construction site is between the Silo and the Bike Barn, where the Star Ginger food truck and the Shah’s Halal Middle Eastern food cart already are doing business.

“We’re trying to provide a wider variety of food options for our entire campus community,” said Burns, noting how food trucks are gaining in popularity all over the country.

Then, in spring quarter, look for the return of the East Quad Farmers Market — only it won’t be called the East Quad market anymore, because it will be at the Silo.

The market has been up and running in fall and spring quarters since 2006, managed by Health Education and Promotion, a unit of Student Health Services. The market is taking this quarter off, however, as it transitions to a new manager: UC Davis Stores (formerly UC Davis Bookstores) and a new name, the UC Davis Farmers Market.

An open house is planned the week of Oct. 17 to show off the new and improved Silo.