Chick-fil-A will open Jan. 27 at Salisbury University
Salisbury University students are about to eat more chicken.
A certain black and white speckled restaurant, known for its chicken sandwiches with the pickle on the bottom, is coming to campus.
Chick-fil-A will officially open Friday, Jan. 27, in Salisbury University's Guerrieri University Center to serve the incoming freshmen, transfers, faculty and staff. It will reopen again on Monday for the community, becoming the first national brand on the Salisbury campus.
For years, SU has been free of outside brands in its dining services. Even staples at campuses like Subway and Starbucks are nowhere to be found.
The first sign of a thawing came at the start of the fall semester with the opening of Rise Up Coffee Roasters in the new Guerrieri Academic Commons, a library and office complex off Route 13. The coffee shop is on the ground floor next to a traditional SU dining facility called Hungry Minds.
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"We are committed to continually enhancing the campus experience here at SU, offering things that are new and exciting to meet the desires of our students," said Owen Rosten, director of University Dining Services.
Located in the space formerly occupied by Gull's Nest, Chick-fil-A will be open 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The city has two other locations, one in North Salisbury and one within the Centre at Salisbury Mall.
Although the university location will not offer the breakfast menu, it will have the nuggets, sandwiches, shakes and of course, the waffle fries, lemonade and iced tea Chick-fil-A is famous for.
The eatery was the No. 1 choice of students, according to research conducted by an outside agency, provided to Dining Services and the Administration and Finance Office.
More than 250 college and university campuses nationwide have a Chick-fil-A location, including the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and University of Delaware, as well as the University of Maryland College Park, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Frostburg State and Towson universities, said Marvin Pyles, interim vice president of administration and finance.
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"Student Government Association officers have enthusiastically endorsed having a Chick-fil-A on campus; they believe many students are excited about it," Pyles said.
SU will be the franchisee. The university and its Dining Services will run the restaurant as one of their own facilities, just like the new Hungry Minds Express, Dining Commons, Cool Beans and Mr. Arthur’s Café in Perdue Hall.
"This will guarantee that the operations reflect the values, including diversity and inclusion, that are part of the SU community," he said.
The eatery will accept the SU Gull Card and meal plan Dining Dollars, as well as cash and credit card. Being a state institution, the campus Chick-fil-A will be open to the public. Also, the workforce will largely be made up of students — more than 70 of them.
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