After months of delays, there will finally be a new restaurant on campus within the next few weeks.
Quizno’s Corp. has agreed to allow Aramark, the campus food service provider, to place one of their franchises on university property.
The ETSU Quizno’s, to be built inside the Buc-Mart, will be the first of the sandwich franchises to be located on a college campus anywhere in the country, said Chris Arthur of Aramark.
“We’re looking at February,” Arthur said of the opening date. “Like I said, it’s the first Quizno’s to go on any college campus anywhere, so we’re really trying to do it correctly and properly and make sure everyone is trained properly.”
“We’re hoping for that first Monday in February,” Arthur said. “That’s our target time depending on equipment arrival.”
Aramark’s contract with the university was renewed last August and the company immediately began expanding and remodeling the Buc-Mart. The expansion not only allows for the addition of a restaurant, but also provides space for a greater variety of items in the convenience store.
After first agreeing to let Aramark place a Subway on campus, Subway Corp. reneged on the deal saying it would interfere with the business and cut in on the profits of the two closest Subways to ETSU, which are managed by the same person.
Aramark then decided to let students choose another eatery for the Buc-Mart by conducting a survey in the Culp Center last semester. Quizno’s received more than half the vote.
“We did a survey before hand, they got 500 and some surveys back and Quizno’s came out with 60 percent of the vote,” Arthur said.
After Aramark had the survey results, they took them to the university food service committee, which consists of students, SGA members and administration officials.
The committee then decided to go ahead with the Quizno’s. So basically, most of last semester was spent trying to work out a suitable deal with Quizno’s Corp. after Aramark got approval from the university.
Arthur said he was surprised at what students picked and also at the amount of surveys returned, though, he was pleased with student cooperation.
When asked to help, students helped, he said.
“I think we were kind of surprised with the Quizno’s, that people really knew what they were and that’s what they picked,” Arthur said. “It was pretty interesting.”
Arthur said that Quizno’s offers a selection of four soups everyday along with about 22 different sandwiches.
They also have a different specialty sandwich every month.
“Basically, we’ll be running pretty much their full menu,” he said.
Because Quizno’s Corp. has never opened a restaurant on a college campus they are taking things slow to make sure it gets done right. Aramark has had to let Quizno’s Corp. know the special needs of a restaurant on a campus and what they will not need that normally goes in a regular store.
“It will be a good opportunity for Quizno’s,” Arthur said. “I think they’ll like it.”
“I’m sure after this one opens, several more will pop-up at other colleges,” he said. “We will more than likely be the ground-breaker for it.

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