President Jerry M. Wallace, Vice President Dwaine Greene and representatives from Campbell’s ARAMARK food service corporation were on hand Tuesday for a ribbon cutting launching the new Chick-fil-A Express restaurant on the Campbell University campus. “Chick-fil-A is big news at Campbell,” Wallace said. “We’re proud to have Chick-fil-A on campus, and I know our students, faculty, staff and many visitors will enjoy it.”Located in the university bookstore in Britt Hall on Main Street, the new restaurant contains approximately 3,000 square feet and is set up to serve as many as 1,000 customers a day. The menu currently features the popular Chick-fil-A sandwich, the Char-grilled Chicken sandwich, chicken nuggets, waffle fries and other standard Chick-fil-A items, and is set to add chicken wraps, breakfast and catering services in the near future.
By 11 a.m. a line of students already extended to the front door of the bookstore. Chick-fil-A’s first customer, junior Crystal Hardin, of Monroe, N.C., had nothing but praise for the restaurant. “It’s awesome,” she said. “Chick-fil-A is a very popular concept,” said Larry Aldridge, ARAMARK’s director of Dining Services at Campbell. “We’re very fortunate to have the franchise on this campus. Students really enjoy it.” Aldridge added that the possibility of a Chick-fil-A franchise was especially attractive to Campbell when the university signed with ARAMARK.
“We have a business relationship with Chick-fil-A, as well as other national brands in all of our regions,” he said. “This was one of the opportunities Campbell was really excited about.” Campbell University announced that it would outsource its food service operation to the ARAMARK Corporation in November 2004. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa., ARAMARK employs approximately 200,000 people serving clients in 19 countries. Since beginning operations at Campbell on January 1, 2005, the corporation has diversified food choices at the Marshbanks and Shouse dining halls and renovated the Oasis in the Wallace Student Center to include more seating space and menu items. Plans to renovate both Shouse and Marshbanks dining halls, as well as add a small convenience store at Shouse will be completed this summer. Campbell could be the site of other national food franchises in the future, depending on the growth of the university and the population in the community, Aldridge added. The Chick-fil-A Express restaurant is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. The manager is Yvonne Spotts.
Photo Copy: Junior Crystal Hardin, of Monroe, N.C., was the first customer at the opening of the new Chick-fil-A restaurant on the Campbell University campus Tuesday. (Photo by Bennett Scarborough)