Fans of Temaki and Smoothie King who returned to campus from the summer hoping to get their favorites on the first day of school were left with news of the restaurant being closed.

Since Monday, Aug. 23, Temaki and Smoothie King have been closed due to staffing shortages within NMU Dining Services.

Paul Schoonveld, director of dining services, said that the decision to close Temaki and Smoothie King was made on the focus dining services efforts on the mission of serving resident hall students, meal plan holders and the campus community.

“While students and the campus community love Temaki and Smoothie King, we knew that consolidating our efforts into the center of campus would allow us to maintain a level of service that would have otherwise been impossible without doing so,” Schoonveld said.

Since the closure of Temaki and Smoothie King, employees have been moved elsewhere on campus with dining services.

Schoonveld said that the Temaki and Smoothie King employment teams were able to choose from The Wildcat Den, Northern Lights Dining or Fieras.

“We know that our fantastic student team members would continue to excel in any of these operations, and each restaurant is in need of additional staff,” Schoonveld said. “We see the move as a “refocusing” of our efforts to continue providing exceptional food on campus.”

To improve the situation at Temaki and Smoothie King, Schoonveld said that dining services are working with several departments and local partners to recruit additional team members. Dining services are also continuing to introduce new initiatives to recruit student team members.

“We are actively working to build up our staffing, and are hoping students will look for employment opportunities with us to enjoy a flexible schedule, work close to their housing and meet a team of exceptional people who are dedicated to providing great food on campus,” Schoonveld said. “Once we secure adequate staffing to provide great dining experiences again, we’ll get the doors back open.”

Schoonveld said that dining services are currently short by over 250 student team members for what is needed in terms of current operations.

Students looking to apply for dining services can find applications on their website.