After facing several delays over the past few months, Subway will tentatively open for limited hours on April 10 and 11, according to Ira Simon, resident district manager for Sodexo at DU. However, the opening could be postponed if the construction is not finished by April 4.
“We are just finalizing some construction issues and we’re still waiting on a few pieces of equipment to come in, so depending on when that happens, that’s going to dictate our ability as to when we will get to open,” said Simon.
If construction is completed on time, employee training will be held on April 6-8, followed by a soft opening on April 9-11.
“On April 9, we’re planning on having an invitation-only day, kind of like a trial period for us to get all our new employees trained,” said Simon.
The store will then be open for limited hours on Thursday, April 10 and Friday, April 11 from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“We’ll be open but we’re not going to promote it,” said Simon. “We may go out in the hallway and say, ‘Hey, we’re open’ and we may get people to come by, but we want to give our employees a good opportunity to learn how to do it.”
On Monday, April 14, Subway will open for its regular hours, 7:30 a.m to 7 p.m., five days a week. If the construction is not finished by April 4, the soft opening will be from April 16-18, and the full opening will be April 21.
The restaurant was originally anticipated in January, but one delay led to another, according to Simon.
“It was some contractual with Subway, some of it was approval that had to be done through the university architect’s office, some of it was delays in our getting the equipment ordered,” said Simon. “It was a series of unexpected issues, and we didn’t realize they had to be done until they were due to be done. As soon as one became late, they all became late.”
Subway will have full-time employees but is also trying to hire students for the peak lunch periods. These will not be work study students. Instead, they will be regular part-time employees for Sodexo with a starting wage of $9.38.
“We have a number of students on a waiting list who want a part-time job with us, and we’re trying to get them associated into those rotations,” said Simon. “It just depends on their schedule and whether they’re available through lunch.”
Subway will accept meal plan cash and Flex like other services on campus. There will also be a new meal plan available starting next fall, with 125 meal swipes and $225 of meal plan cash. This meal plan is designed around the new retail locations, including an Einstein Bros., which will be opening in Daniels in September.
In a previous Clarion article from Jan. 14, Simon said students will be able to use meal plan cash to purchase food from the retail outlets. They will also have the additional option of paying $75 more to add $100 of meal plan cash.
“What we’re really doing is offering students a lot of improved options to eat retail on campus, and this is for faculty, staff, commuters, upperclassmen and non-meal plan people who have to go off campus to find lunch,” said Simon. “There’s a huge number of people that we have been unable to attract because we haven’t had the services that they’ve wanted.”
First-year student Maggy Graham, a biology major, said she’s excited for Subway to open.
“It’s gonna provide this fantastic third option in Driscoll,” said Graham. “When I’m in Sturm, I don’t have chance to go to Anderson or Nagel, so having it right there will be really nice.”
