Bama Dining opened its newest addition to the Student Center, Chicken Salad Chick, last Wednesday. The Alabama-based restaurant chain is one of several changes at Bama Dining, including longer hours for the Fresh Food Company and a potential replacement for the Wendy’s in the Student Center.
Chicken Salad Chick was founded in 2008 in Auburn, Alabama, where it’s headquartered today, and continues to run franchises across the state. The restaurant’s menu features an array of Southern food, chief among them being the titular “fresh made chicken salad” in addition to sandwiches, sides, soups and desserts.
Bruce McVeagh, district manager of Bama Dining, said the new restaurant was a perfect fit for the University and student culture. In fact, the match was so appealing that Bama Dining sought out Chicken Salad Chick specifically as a partner.
“We looked at Chicken Salad Chick because it’s an Alabama brand. ‘Chicken Salad Chick’ is a cool name, it markets well and we had the perfect space for them to set up in,” McVeagh said.
The restaurant takes up the previously unoccupied space behind the Subway and Auntie Anne’s in the Student Center. Because the area lacked some kitchen utilities, brands that wanted to set up shop in the space would have needed to serve mostly cold foods. The Chicken Salad Chick connection was, as McVeagh described it, “an ‘aha’ moment.”
“They’re in the stadium during football games, and they had a good experience there,” McVeagh said. “They were excited about potentially coming on campus.”
This expansion is one of many that Bama Dining has in the works, and the Chicken Salad Chick location isn’t even the only new store going in at the Student Center. Choolaah, an Indian fast food restaurant with a style similar to Chipotle, has a “99.9%” chance of taking the Wendy’s spot at the Student Center, McVeagh said.
This semester, the University also added a mobile ordering option to the Chick-fil-A in Lloyd Hall. Students had previously complained about the location after it was revamped last summer.
The Fresh Food Company also recently extended its operating hours to stay open until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday as Bama Dining is planning more changes to the dining halls. The service is also working on rotating restaurant concepts in the dining halls by temporarily transforming the spaces into more focused, restaurant-like experiences, complete with new foods to try and themed uniforms for staff.
In the meantime, crowds have been growing outside Chicken Salad Chick. Among students, it seems like the new restaurant is a hit.
Brody Matthews, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering, enjoyed his experience dining at the new restaurant this week, even if he had to wait in a line.
“I loved it,” he said. “It was delicious. They had bacon cheese. It was really good and came on a croissant.”
Matthews also said that he enjoyed the rotating dining experiences, particularly the “Build Your Own Pasta” station at Lakeside Dining, which he wished would return. He added that he wants the hours of operation for campus restaurants to be a little longer, especially at Chicken Salad Chick, which is only open for around 4 hours each weekday afternoon.
He particularly enjoys the restaurant when there isn’t a line. “They just scoop it, and you get your food within 10 seconds,” he said. “I like how quick it is.”
Bama Dining is also experimenting with even more new ideas for the future, what McVeagh called a “process of metamorphosis.” Many of those experiments are student- led, like the double-decker food truck designed by engineering students that may soon be roaming campus. The innovative mobile restaurant will be complete with a kitchen area on the bottom level and a dining area on the top.
Two of the University’s on-campus restaurants, Blenz and Low Tide Poke Bowl, are also owned and operated by students. The two companies operate four physical locations and two food trucks, one apiece, on campus.
“We’re helping student success, not just feeding students,” McVeagh said.
