By Katherine Yeager | Echo
Laughter echoes through the LaRita R. Boren Campus Center as students, faculty and community members explore the "destination dining" experience that launched on Monday. Sam Hartman, operator of Taylor's Chick-fil-A Express, adjusts his red Chick-fil-A tie, takes a sip of his Chick-fil-A fountain drink and smiles.
"I love to tell the story of the towel that I got when I graduated from here and what it represents," Hartman said. "I have the exact same towel from when I graduated from the Chick-fil-A training class to become an operator. Literally, the exact same towel; it's made in the exact same company, but the logos are different. Everything about what the towel means, represents and what it stands for is the same."
Hartman, a 2001 Taylor alumnus, recently launched another Chick-fil-A in Noblesville, hiring four Taylor alumni. Hartman hopes that as Chick-fil-A Express enters its second week, it will continually evolve into a community staple.
Chick-fil-A planning began several years ago when Susan McCabe, a member of Taylor's Board of Trustees and her husband, Buck, the former Chick-fil-A Chief Financial Officer, approached Taylor's administration with the idea. The McCabes feel that Chick-fil-A and Taylor hold many shared values that fit well into the existing community dynamics.
"When we knew a new building was coming, that started the conversations," said Matt Riley, Director of Creative Dining. "Is a national brand good for Taylor? Is that something that we want to have here? What's the response from the students? We tried to weigh everything in and ultimately the decision was to have Chick-fil-A."
Riley believes that Chick-fil-A and the other new dining options will foster a new sense of community.
While Hartman realizes that people come to Chick-Fil-A for the food, he believes they stay for the conversation.
The idea of "destination dining" was established by the Creative Dining staff, Chick-fil-A and Taylor to ensure that nothing other than soup or salad would be duplicated between the DC and the campus center.
"It's a neat partnership of the three different groups," Hartman said. "Taylor owns the Chick-fil-A. Creative Dining plays the part of staffing, hiring and training. Chick-fil-A comes in and my role is to help consult for the location. We hope to make sure that it's running smoothly and keeping up to brand standards and ensure that the same Chick-fil-A sandwich that you have when you are at home is the same Chick-fil-A sandwich that you have here in Upland."
Community members in Upland and the Grant County area are also encouraged to partake in the Chick-fil-A experience. Creative Dining plans to incorporate community-focused events throughout the year such as kids' nights and spirit nights.
Hartman hopes the Campus Center Chick-fil-A will feel like a hometown Chick-fil-A, with the same level of customer service as traditional stand-alone stores.
As the opening week of Chick-fil-A comes to a close, management and employees agreed that the opening has been a wild success.
"This first week is going better than we expected," said retail manager Brenda Christian. "(Student workers) have been handling everything really well. We have a very good team of people in place."
Teamwork, Christian said, has been key as supervisors and leads work closely together.
Students are asked to be patient as snags are worked out and workers trained on new equipment. Employees will be stationed around the dining area in the campus center over the next week to ensure that students and other visitors have their questions answered.
"I really like working with the team at Chick-fil-A," freshman employee Holly Carroll said. "Everyone has been really courteous, and I enjoy building relationships with customers."
Carroll encourages students to get to know their Chick-fil-A and dining workers. This will become easier with the extended hours of Chick-fil-A, open until midnight (except on Sundays).
"I would love to come by here at 11:30 when life really happens on a college campus and see a bunch of people sitting at this table, eating Chick-fil-A sandwiches and having nuggets, maybe some milkshakes later on," Hartman said.
As the smell of chicken sandwiches and waffle fries replaces the smell of fresh paint and sawdust, Chick-fil-A continues to fit into the community like a chicken patty on a perfectly toasted bun.
