A familiar sight for all UT students is the absolutely packed Student Union. It is not uncommon to wait for longer than 30 minutes for your Chick-fil-A during the lunchtime rush. In an effort to address this issue of capacity, Vol Dining has recently announced the planned opening of two new locations throughout campus.
The first site will serve as campus’ third Chick-fil-A. Opening on Cumberland Ave., it will take the spot of the former Raising Canes and Panda Express combo. However, as Amanda Hough, director of Vol Dining, explained that it is not just another Chick-fil-A, but instead it has unique features students should be excited about.
“We’ll be one of the only locations to be co-branded and that’s huge,” Hough said. “Chick-fil-A has very strict brand standards so it’s really exciting for us to be a part of that and be able to bring some Rocky Top to Chick-fil-A — It’s not going to be your average Chick-fil-A.”
Students can expect the Chick-fil-A to have splashes of orange and nods to UT. The location separates itself from the others on campus by offering extended hours and a complete menu, including special seasonal items and soups.
Another reason Vol Dining chose Chick-fil-A for the location is because catering is currently not possible through the two existing locations. This location will be able to provide catering throughout campus.
A main goal of both projects is to provide options for dining to the periphery of campus. The Chick-fil-A on Cumberland will better serve students living in Fort Sanders and off campus. The second project, Orange Acres Cafe, aims to fill a hole in the Agriculture Campus.
Currently, the Agriculture Campus only has Mabel’s as far as dining options. Adding Orange Acres in the new Agriculture and Natural Resources Building will provide students and faculty in the Agriculture Campus with another convenient option.
“Orange Acres offers a unique opportunity for us to build a custom menu,” Hough said. “That gives us a lot of creativity as well. With that creativity we sat down with our team and our partners at Aramark and thought what can we do to make this location unique and what are we lacking on this side of campus.”
Orange Acres will encompass some concepts seen at other UT original dining locations, such as the use of UT beef already seen at the Big Orange Grill in the Student Union. The menu at Orange Acres will include burgers, hot sandwiches and salads, including the ability to turn any burger into a salad. Orange Acres will also serve coffee and breakfast, offering a new morning option for those in the Agriculture Campus.
Orange Acres will also serve as a pilot location for a new concept in Vol Dining — food lockers.
“When we’re looking at what we need to do next or should prioritize next, efficiency is extremely important,” Hough said. “Those food lockers will be imperative to timeliness.”
Students and faculty will be able to order on their phones through Grubhub and pick up their food from a locker, all without entering the dining space.
For both projects, sustainability remains front of mind for Vol Dining, as Rebecca McKnight, assistant director of marketing for Vol Dining, elaborated.
“We’re still working on it, but our aim is to open Orange Acres with a compostable option in the front of house,” McKnight said. “Right now we do all composting through the back of house. We’re trying to make that more forward focused to customers and students.”
For students looking forward to the new dining options, both are scheduled to open sometime this spring. Vol Dining has stated that the date is fluid and subject to some change.
