Bar hoppers and partygoers will not need to wander far for a late night snack with a new 24-hour restaurant option coming to the Strip.
Waffle House will be opening soon on University Blvd. between Crimson Cafe and Smoothie King. Waffle House will share the building with the Dixie, which will reopen under its former name, the Jupiter.
Kelly Thrasher, Waffle House spokesperson, says the Waffle House is scheduled to open at the end of this month or early February, and they look forward to being a successful part of the UA community.
“Waffle House is excited to be part of the University of Alabama’s campus,” she said. “Students and faculty at our other campus locations have been very welcoming and were eager to come eat with us.”
Waffle House will keep the same hours and prices as other Waffle House locations, Thrasher said.
The addition of Waffle House is not the only change to the location. The Jupiter has undergone a major renovation and Jeremiah Jones, owner and manager of the bar, said it is really a new place.
“You really can’t fathom the changes,” he said. “Everything there is to serve the customers. We wanted it to look neat, clean and efficient.”
Jones said he decided to change the name of the bar from the Dixie back to the Jupiter to entice people to come in and see the changes.
Jupiter was the name when two college fraternity brothers first opened the bar in 2002. Jones later changed the name to the Dixie when he became the owner.
Jones said he had a lot of people ask him about the name change and asked him to change it back to the Jupiter. However, he didn’t really like the name the Jupiter, and said he didn’t consider changing it until Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley, who played at the Jupiter in the past, said they preferred the old name.
“Two famous musicians asked about the name changes and said they like the Jupiter,” Jones said. “I realized then that it meant something not only to the people who went there, but also to the artists who played there.”
Jones said he hopes the Waffle House will drum up more business for the Jupiter, which he said would be opening soon.
“People may stop by Waffle House and see the Jupiter’s marque and see someone they like is playing and come in,” Jones said.
Even with all the benefits, Waffle House could bring problems, Mary Kathryn Patterson, a sophomore majoring in public relations, said.
“Waffle House kind of has a reputation for housing drunks late at night, and being so close to the bars, I could see the potential for a lot of fights or at least some conflict,” she said.
Cathy Andreen, director of media relations for the University of Alabama, said UA had no comment on potential downsides to Waffle House coming to the Strip because the Dixie is not a UA-owned property.
Regardless, Jones said he also hopes Waffle House will be able to bridge the gap between downtown Tuscaloosa and the Strip.
“Places like Innisfree and Moe’s Original BBQ have begun to bridge that gap, and I hope that the Waffle House will serve as a retail anchor and continue to help bridge the gap,” he said.
For more information about the Jupiter contact Jeremiah Jones at 205-248-6611. For more information about Waffle House, email Kelly Thrasher at [email protected].
