Pizza Hut Express coming to campus

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Pizza Hut Express, the newest addition to the food court in the Sorenson Student Center, is expected to announce its soft opening for Thursday, Oct. 27, only days after its anticipated arrival, originally Oct. 24.

 

A mix up with freight, wherein tracking order barcodes identifying freight were placed on the wrong boxes by the supplier, caused the slight delay in plans. Issues like these, though, are nothing new to Val Brown, director of Dining Services.

 

Construction on the new addition to the food court, strategically slated for completion over fall break, had originally been scheduled in conjunction with the entrance of Subway and Costa Vida in between summer and fall semesters. Red tape with big corporations, said Brown, began causing problems in April 2011 at the onset of the project.

 

“When we realized we couldn’t get done in time for the opening of school this fall, we targeted for October,” Brown said.

 

Another wrinkle ironed out by Brown was whom these new franchises would be able to hire. Pizza Hut Express will be fully staffed by UVU Dining Services employees, unlike the other new additions to the food court. Costa Vida and Subway, while allowed to hire full-time employees from anywhere, are under contract to hire only UVU students to fill their part-time positions.

 

Wendy’s, which is scheduled to come to campus after spring 2012 semester, is expected to operate under the same stipulations. With the regular turnover in Dining Services staff every semester, Brown doesn’t expect these changes to directly affect the dining services crew.

 

“We’re really not laying anybody off,” Brown said. “It’s just the natural progression of the labor force.”

 

It’s a wash, Brown said, since the positions that would have been filled by students through Dining Services, will be provided through the franchises instead.

 

Pizza Hut express will be taking the place of Italian Café. The Courte Side Grille, Teriyaki Stix and JFE Sushi will remain in their current positions until Wendy’s is installed next spring. Wendy’s will take the place of Courte Side Grille, and Teriyaki Stix will be moved to the second floor of the student center.

 

The motivation behind these changes has always been student feedback and preference. Another reason these brands have been brought in, Brown said, was to make sure the student center didn’t get “left in the lurch” with all of the growth on campus.

 

By Jeff Jacobsen – Online Content Manager

Photo by Jeff Jacobsen