Back by popular demand is the coffee shop in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Coffee Express will re-open today and will be open until TCBY opens, said Jody Horn, director of Panther Dining, in an e-mail.

It will re-open because Dining had requests for something until TCBY opened, Horn said.

“We were offering muffins down by the Chick-fil-A, but I’m not sure enough people knew this,” she said. “Since we haven’t started the work on TCBY yet, I think this will help.”

Coffee Express will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and will serve muffins, bagels, soup and coffee, which were the most requested items, Horn said. In the future, it also may offer cappuccino.

“It will be a little more limited than before since it is temporary,” Horn said.

The decision was made about a week ago by dining personnel, the union staff, and Shirley Stewart, associate vice president for student affairs.

There still is no opening date for TCBY. However, Horn said they are aggressively working on it.

“We want to make sure it is a concept and design like we want since it won’t be temporary,” she said.

Moving Subway and Chick-fil-A took some time away from TCBY’s construction, but Dining decided those projects had a higher priority.

Horn said TCBY will offer upscale coffee, gourmet baked goods and yogurt.

Connie’s pizza should soon be available in the Market Place, Horn said.

“We have the oven and the product,” she said. “We just need the signage and the dispensing cabinet.”

Also, construction of the new food court began Wednesday.