The Crow’s Nest is a notoriously delicious Chinese and breakfast food-truck sized snack shack at the top of the massive hill in between the Advanced Technology Center and the Life & Health Science buildings. It is open Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Each day, an infamous and “almost terrifying line begins to form at 10 a.m. and lasts until 2 p.m,” frequent customer and DVC student Justin Coletto said.

Hundreds of people eventually get through the long line and arrive at one of two small serving windows, catching a glimpse into one of the busiest and most iconic culinary experiences offered at DVC.

The Crow’s Nest’s lunch menu includes homemade crispy orange chicken, Chinese barbecue pork, curry chicken, garlic ginger chicken, kung pao chicken, vegetarian eggplant, Mongolian beef, and daily specials such as barbecue pork fried rice and egg rolls.

Few know that the Crow’s Nest also offers a breakfast menu complete with french toast, omelets, bacon and other daily specials.

For $6 and a will to wait, anyone can experience this convenient Chinese and breakfast food-shack.

Increasing student enrollment at DVC combined with years of word-of-mouth advertising has turned the once “quick and convenient” Crow’s Nest, as described on the DVC website, into a 10 to 20 minute debacle.

In the afternoon, lines can stretch far beyond the usual grassy area and sometimes reach over fifty students long, causing the line to move into the walkway near the stairs.

“Space is very limited here,” Ricky Garcia, an employee of the Crow’s Nest, said. “This place is all the space we have to work in. We need bigger everything [to be more productive].”

Perhaps there is a solution.

The faculty office building directly behind the Crow’s Nest is one of the oldest buildings on campus, which is most likely going to be torn down and replaced within the next few years.

During this possible construction, the DVC administration should consider demolishing the current Crow’s Nest building and replacing the tiny two-window shack. A new Panda Express-style buffet would accommodate the increasing student body for years to come.

The Crow’s Nest building was originally designed to serve a few hundred people sporadically throughout the day, not hundreds of students within a short period of time.

Waiting in line and eating during the lunch rush can potentially take thirty minutes or more. A more streamlined experience could increase revenue.

Imagine our own DVC buffet similar to Panda Express at the top of the hill, serving hundreds of people daily without much of a line to worry about.

DVC’s student body is increasing in number every year, leading to higher demand for quick and convenient food.

The bottleneck known as the Crow’s Nest is currently providing enough food for a few hundred students a week, when thousands of students are looking for something quick.