Students returning from winter break at the University Park Campus were greeted by the newly renovated Trojan Grounds, with a freshly painted interior and the red-and-white Illy logo replacing the familiar green Starbucks awning outside Birnkrant Residential College.

Dirk De Jong, the assistant vice president of USC Hospitality & USC Hotel, said the University made the change to diversify the number of coffee brand options available on campus due to there being several Starbucks locations near campus, including at USC Village. He also cited the University’s ability to customize the Illy menu to the local student body and the company’s alignment with University values like sustainability as reasons for the change.

Keira Izumi, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering, said she wondered why there were two Illy locations on campus compared to one Starbucks location.

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“It just seems a little out of the way to make everybody go to the Village now to get their Starbucks, because I know that one’s super busy all the time,” Izumi said.

The move follows the conversion of the Starbucks location at the Health Sciences Campus Plaza Marketplace to an Illy location over Thanksgiving break. Illy’s coffee and espresso drinks have also been served at Annenberg Hall since the building’s Fall 2014 opening. 

De Jong wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan that, like Starbucks’, Illy’s menu would include grab-and-go meals and other drinks for “convenience and variety.” He said there could be some differences in the UPC and HSC menus but that they would be largely identical.

The Illy at Trojan Grounds is open from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, longer than Café Annenberg’s 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday hours. Additionally, Café Annenberg is closed on weekends, while the Illy at Trojan Grounds is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

De Jong said the previous baristas would stay on and had received training from Illy. 

“We pretty much changed everything except for staff,” De Jong said.

Izumi said Illy doesn’t have the same cultural status as Starbucks.

“Definitely with girls my age, [Starbucks is] a huge part of our everyday lives,” she said. “When people think about ‘Oh, I’m going to be getting coffee with my friends,’ the default is that you’re just going to go grab a coffee at Starbucks because it’s pretty common and everybody likes Starbucks.”

Ariel Ehrlich, a freshman majoring in journalism, said he was “horrified” when he learned that Trojan Grounds was switching to Illy. 

“Coming to school as a freshman, it was the biggest brag to tell all my friends from home that I literally had a Starbucks in my dorm,” Ehrlich said.

Brian Park, a junior majoring in business administration and accounting, said he used to go to Trojan Grounds when it was Starbucks twice a week, and he doesn’t expect that to change since he primarily went there because of its convenient location. 

“I do prefer the coffee of Illy,” Park said. “Starbucks’ [coffee] sometimes just tastes burnt, but I think Illy’s more consistent.”

Several students were disappointed that Illy doesn’t offer some of their favorite items from Starbucks. 

“Illy’s fine. When it comes to coffee, all I drink is espresso,” Ehrlich said. “But for game days, I always would get a Venti Pink Drink … and now I have to go all the way to the Village to do that.”

Raquel Chen, a junior majoring in business administration as well as applied and computational mathematics, said Illy has “better bakery options,” giving its breakfast menu an advantage over Starbucks’. However, she said she might go to Trojan Grounds less frequently.

Ehrlich said he’s noticed smaller lines at Trojan Grounds now that it’s switched to Illy. He said Starbucks had popular specialty items, such as seasonal beverages and Pink Drinks, which aren’t offered at Illy.

“Me and all of my friends would come sit at these tables [outside Trojan Grounds] … I just don’t see that happening as much anymore, especially because it was less about the coffee and more about the drinks and the food and stuff like that, and now that’s gone,” he said. “If we do that, we’ll probably want to go to the Village to get Starbucks.”