There’s a new dining and hangout spot on campus for University of Lynchburg students: The Hub at Rainsford. The multiuse space, which includes food, coffee, recreation, laundry facilities, and a Domino’s Pizza, had its grand opening on Monday, Oct. 13.
The Hub at Rainsford is located on the first floor of Rainsford House, one of the University’s southside townhouses. With the exception of Domino’s, which was already onsite, the space is intended for student use only, with card access.
In its center section, which is flanked on either side by the laundry room and Domino’s, students may use major credit cards, mobile wallets, and Express Accounts and Hornet Plans to buy hot food items, such as bao buns, White Castle cheeseburgers, pretzels, and brownies, from a Just Baked kiosk.
At a Costa Coffee kiosk, students can purchase a variety of hot and cold, bean-to-cup, real-milk coffee drinks. The Hub at Rainsford also includes traditional snack and soda machines and a brand-new pool table.
“Students can go in and scan, so they’re there for their laundry, and the middle section is open 24/7 to hang out,” said Michael Vaughan, Lynchburg’s associate vice president of operations. “There are cameras … and card access. People can’t randomly walk [in] off the street.”
Vaughan described The Hub at Rainsford as “vending on steroids” and a “full-blown convenience concept, without attendants.”
The idea for The Hub at Rainsford originated in 2023, when Vaughan and Shaun Dearden, Lynchburg’s director of dining services, were attending the National Association of College & University Food Services conference.
“We won silver that year,” Vaughan said, referring to NACUFS’s annual awards competition. “We met several folks who were telling us about unattended retail, which many of our competitors are doing. …
“That piqued our interest, and since then we’ve been trying to bring Lynchburg into that field.”
In April 2025, the University installed Costa Coffee and Just Baked kiosks in the Doctor of Physical Therapy breakroom, located not far from the main campus in the health sciences building.
Vaughan said The Hub at Rainsford is “taking it to the next level.”
Future additions are expected to include freezer and refrigerator cabinets, where ice cream, fresh sandwiches, salads, yogurts, and other frozen or cold items can be purchased.
“The machines will run 24/7. They’ll be serviced regularly, so … selections will change based on what appetites are, and as we expand the cold and freezer cabinets, that will enable us to offer more variety,” Vaughan said.
This semester, dining services also rolled out a system through which students can use Lynchburg Express Accounts and Hornet Plans at six local restaurant locations, including two Mission House Coffee shops, Mizumi Japanese Bistro, Choice Hibachi Buffet, Domino’s, and Jersey Mike’s Subs.
“[The Hub] capitalizes on what dining is rolling out,” Vaughan said, adding that dining services is using a “your money, your choice, your city, your University … philosophy. … The Hub is one more piece in that continuum of service to empower our students to use their dining dollars where they want to use them.
“Our goal is to expand that. We have a much larger list. We put feelers out to several [restaurants], but due to our short timeline at the beginning of the semester, we stuck with six. Our goal is to expand that in the spring and next summer to a much larger swath.”
