Customers began to line up as UNC Charlotte prepared for the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the new Bojangles’ on campus.
After a slight delay, the ribbon was finally cut at 10:30 a.m. signifying that it was now open for business.
“I am a big Bojangles’ fan and I’m really excited … I think that it’s going to rock here in the union. It’s replacing a concept that’s about three years old … I just think that it is a really good concept and that the students are going to love it,” said Associate Vice Chancellor of Business Services Keith Wassum.
Wassum was the one to cut the red tape when it was time to open for business that day.
Along with representatives from both UNC Charlotte and Bojangles’, were Norm the Niner and Bojangles’s mascot Big Bo, who were there to help create excitement for the opening.
To entice people to come and experience the official opening of the restaurant, Bojangles’s had several free giveaways consisting of food and gifts. There were also two cornhole games set up in the dining area.
All day during the grand opening, Bojangles’ gave away a free Bo-biscuit with every purchase, with no minimum requirement on how much a customer needed to spend. Bojangles’ also gave away key chains and other small gifts.
The next day, any faculty and staff who presented their UNC Charlotte ID between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. received a free legendary ice tea along with a free cup, with no purchase necessary.
The 49th customer on both days received a free tailgate package from Bojangles’ as well.
“It helps with the brand, it helps with the excitement, and they’re not very costly things, but it’s just something to remember that Bojangles’ is in the Student Union,” said Tameron Jackson, who is the manager for the restaurant.
The soft opening for the Bojangles’ was originally planned to be August 24, with the official grand opening following the next day. However, there was a problem that was discovered in the gas lines that prevented the restaurant from opening.
“We weren’t getting the right pressure through our gas lines and that meant that some of our equipment wasn’t getting the right amount of gas; it wasn’t providing heat, which is not what you want when you’re preparing food,” said Wassum.
This issue took roughly a day and a half to fix, which resulted in the soft opening being moved to August 26.
The purpose of the soft opening was to ensure that staff had received the proper training and that equipment was working as intended. To prepare, Bojangles’ staff underwent training the week before the soft opening.
“There was a really expensive training program as well for the employees, so when you open you want to make sure that you have appropriately trained employees,” said Director of Auxiliary Services Ana Alvarez.
Bojangles’ was first brought onto campus to serve concessions at basketball games. It was well received enough to move it to the Cone Center where it became a Bojangles’ Express. It stayed there for several years until it moved locations to the Student Union over the summer and has now become a full menu Bojangles’, capable of serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“My team knows that I’m crazy about Bojangles … I’m really excited that we’ve progressed with them. We’ve gone from a concessions menu to an express and know we have the full thing, so I’m really excited,” said Wassum.