Another fast-food option will soon become available to patrons at the Wyoming Union, located on the University of Wyoming campus.
In an effort to increase revenue and foot traffic in the student union, the UW Board of Trustees approved a five-year agreement to allow a Chick-fil-A to open during its November meeting.
UW Dining Services will operate the restaurant, with the university retaining 90% of the revenues.
The university expects the restaurant to have high grossing sales and sustained profitability, which will be a change from the restaurants currently in the union that don’t make much money, Chief Financial Officer Alex Kean said.
He predicted that the restaurant would bring between $400,000 and $500,000 of net revenue to the university.
While most students who completed a survey on campus restaurants expressed support for the Chick-fil-A, more than 200 left comments concerning the impact the restaurant could have on the LGBTQ community, given its history of donating to groups with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
The Associated Students of UW recommended that the university still approve the restaurant to follow the view of the majority of students, but allocate its profits to Multicultural Affairs to recognize the impact on LGBTQ communities, ASUW president Allison Brown said.
Trustee John McKinley said the profits from the restaurant are set up to go toward retiring the bond issuance on the new housing and dining project and into a spatial projects reserve account.
Chick-fil-A received over 67% of the votes of all the restaurants listed in the student survey.
In a separate survey run by ASUW, more than 85% of respondents said they would support a Chick-fil-A on campus, Brown said.
The restaurant is scheduled to open for the 2023-2024 academic school year, after its future space next to Panda Express and FujiSan Sushi is remodeled.
