With the start of the new year, a new Subway restaurant has opened its doors to the university inside of the Konover Campus Center.
Students began lining up to enter the restaurant on Monday, January 19, when Subway opened just prior to the beginning of classes for the spring semester.
Crews and contractors spent the winter break tearing out the space previously occupied by the Village Market Deli and Zoca, making way for the American fast food chain.
Michael Pieksza, the director of operations for ARAMARK, said the transition from the Market Deli and Zoca went very smoothly, with very few setbacks or problems, as the building and location itself were in good standing from an environmental standpoint, and all of the mechanical systems were still functioning well.
“Subway is a great franchise to work with,” he said. “They have all of their systems in place. We didn’t have any hiccups at all.”
The restaurant has seen a large flow of customers already, considering Subway was one of few dining locations open when the university closed school due to inclement weather beginning on Monday at 3 p.m. and continuing through Tuesday.
“I think that our customers are now having a better experience where they don’t have to wait in line 20 minutes to get their sandwich, or to get up to the queue line where they can actually order their sandwich,” Pieksza said. “We’re putting customers through every 30 seconds there when we have a line, which is well within the standards.”
Employees, student staff, and managers were all properly trained to Subway’s standards, with two of the managers at the Konover Market traveling to Subway’s “Subway University” to learn the rules and regulations, both in a “classroom” setting, as well as working inside a Subway location for a week.
Pieksza said planning has already begun on the next set of renovations to come to campus, which will be the transition to a full Starbucks coffee shop inside the Mortensen Library over the upcoming summer.
