Chartwells, OCU’s food service company, is considering replacing the university’s Chick-fil-A restaurant with a new food service called Bowl Life.
Chartwells is a food service company that runs all of OCU’s food services, such as the cafeteria, Alvin’s and Chick-fil-A.
Reid Powell, SGA vice president-elect, said Bowl Life would be a place where students could compile their own food bowl.
“The idea is to be almost like a Chipotle or something like that, where you kind of get to pick a premade bowl or build your own,” Powell said.
Abby Banks, SGA president-elect, said Bowl Life could present more food options for students to choose from.
“At Chick-fil-A you get chicken. That’s about the extent of it. At a place like Bowl Life, you’re able to customize whatever you want, and it still be the quality and speed you would get at Chick-fil-A,” Banks said.
Banks also said Bowl Life would present more options for students who have dietary restrictions.
“It has the ability and option to be dietary friendly, whereas Chick-fil-A is not,” Banks said.
Powell said Bowl Life could be a better choice for some people because the Chick-fil-A company isn’t supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Chick-fil-A, and just kind of their morals as a company, don’t always align with the university and what students at the university believe,” Powell said.
Powell also said Bowl Life might be available late at night and on Sundays, unlike Chick-fil-A.
“I know they’re considering keeping this location open late at night,” Powell said.
Powell also said Casey Kreger, director of housing and residence life, created an interest group across the campus to see what students were looking for in campus food services.
“It was basically just asking them what they would like to see on campus, what kinds of foods, what kind of experience, and what could best fit the campus community. From that is where they got this idea of Bowl Life,” Powell said.
Kreger was unavailable for comment.
Emily Anderson, director of dining services at Chartwells, and Kreger attended an SGA meeting to present the possibility of replacing Chick-fil-A with Bowl Life on March 12.
Anderson was unavailable for comment.
Powell and Banks both attended the meeting.
Powell said most of the SGA senators were open to the possibility of switching to Bowl Life.
“There was a large group of very diverse students who were all very willing to switch to this option,” Powell said.
Banks said she likes the options of both Chick-fil-A and Bowl Life, but she wants what’s best for the student body.
“I love Chick-fil-A, but I also love the new idea of something different. I just want it to be something that the students want and will use and will find enjoyable, but that could also work from a university standpoint,” Banks said.
Anderson and Kreger have not announced their decision yet.
Powell said it’s unclear when this decision will be made due to classes being moved to online.
“I do know they were looking at starting it next year. Of course, I don’t know if that will still be the case,” Powell said.
Students can contact Abby Banks at albanks@my.okcu.edu to give their opinions on Bowl Life.
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