Au Bon Pain opens campus location at Lipscomb University
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
The aroma of fresh-baked bread, soup and coffee has been enticing Lipscomb students, faculty and staff into the Student Activities Center this week with the opening of Au Bon Pain café bakery.
Au Bon Pain, located in a newly renovated portion of the SAC, opened to the Lipscomb community when classes resumed Monday, March 23, following spring break. An official grand opening took place on Tuesday, March 31. The community was invited to stop by Au Bon Pain to enjoy food samples, music, games and giveaways.
“We are excited to be able to bring such a high quality option to the campus with an incredibly diverse menu,” says Jeff Wilson, director of service operations and retail operations at Lipscomb University. “This is a big step for our food service because it is the first significant food offering outside of the Bennett Campus Center. We are also excited about how this can serve our commuter and night class population because of its strategic location for the campus near Ezell and Swang.”
The café bakery is the first Au Bon Pain in the country operated by Sodexo, Lipscomb’s dining services provider. It offers a full dining experience with a soup and oatmeal station that features two varieties of oatmeal each morning and five soup options along with macaroni and cheese throughout the day; a fresh, made-to-order salad bar that includes three greens, 30 topping and 10 dressing choices; and a menu that offers 20 hot and cold sandwich varieties and 10 pre-made salads. In addition, a soft drink station, a smoothie bar, espresso, tea and coffee are available in addition to bottled beverages. Patrons may also choose from 40 muffin, bagel, cookie and pastry options among many other bakery choices.
The food is prepared on site, not in the main Sodexo kitchen located in the university’s Bennett Campus Center.
“This restaurant is 100 percent self-sustaining,” says Wolcott Fary, general manager of Lipscomb Dining Services – Sodexo. “Everything is cooked, chopped and sliced here. The breads and pastries are risen and fresh baked here. We have a baker who comes in at 3 a.m. every morning, and items are baked fresh three times each day.”
Fary says Au Bon Pain gives the Lipscomb community a new dining option on the south end of campus that also creates a new gathering place. In the commons area of the SAC there are 70 seats, with outdoor patio seating planned in the near future.
Sodexo and Lipscomb officials say they continually look for ways to improve students’ dining experiences and options.
“To serve this community effectively, we have to look ahead and try to align our offerings to the needs and wants of not only current students but those who will be coming to us in the next few years,” says Fary. “It’s never short-term planning. The opening of Au Bon Pain enhances the partnership of Sodexo and the university. We should have an interactive and connected relationship. This is a great example of what that should look like.”
Response to the new café bakery has been favorable. In just its first few days of business, a large crowd of patrons has packed the venue for much of its operating hours.
“I love that you can make your own salad any way you want it with tons of options,” says Leah Owens, a junior nursing major. “They have a little bit of everything. I like where it is located, too. It’s exciting!”
“It’s in a perfect location because many of my classes are in this (Ezell) building,” says Stephen Grady, a junior kinesiology major. “I like the variety of food, and I really enjoy their coffee. I like the refillable coffee mug. That’s great!”
Au Bon Pain will offer specials from time-to-time such as a refillable coffee mug that can be purchased for $2.99 and refilled for 99 cents for a limited time. Fary says other special offers will continue to take place in the future.
For now, Lipscomb’s Au Bon Pain is open 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday. But Fary says students, faculty and staff are already requesting expanded hours, which will be considered in coming weeks.
Fary invites the campus community as well as those in the Nashville community to visit Au Bon Pain to eat on site, to grab lunch or dinner to go, or to bring home to the family.
For more information, click here.
About Au Bon Pain
Founded in 1978, Au Bon Pain (“the place of good bread”) has grown into an internationally recognized leader in the fast-casual restaurant category. The chain’s signature?items—sandwiches, breads, pastries, salads, soups and coffee—are served in welcoming café environments emphasizing quick service and hospitality. Au Bon Pain offers consumers a wide array of delicious, nutritional foods, and over the past three years has earned Health magazine’s designation as one of America’s Top 5 Healthiest Restaurant Chains and was recently voted the #1 healthiest restaurant chain by Grellin.
Au Bon Pain operates in six key trade channels including urban office buildings, hospitals, universities, transportation centers, malls and museums, with locations ranging from 300-square-foot satellites to 6,500-square-foot cafés with 100-plus seats. Au Bon Pain currently operates in more than 310 locations in the U.S. and internationally. Additional information about Au Bon Pain, which is headquartered in Boston, may be found at www.aubonpain.com.
—Photos by Kristi Jones, video by Josh Shaw