We’ve all been there. After a long, grueling week of classes, sometimes all we want is a rewarding meal to combat the immense stress we can feel throughout the week. And, honestly, the dining halls get old after a while. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good burrito bowl from Cova or some General Tso’s chicken from Belle Air. However, eating the same, run-of-the-mill food over and over again can get quite exhausting. I need variety in my diet, or else I start to go a bit insane. Therefore, when confronted with the question of whether it is worth adding fast food chains on campus, I am undoubtedly in favor of doing so.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of notoriously unhealthy fast food chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell, but I think adding some higher-quality chains to the campus would be invaluable. Places such as Panera Bread, Chick-fil-A, Honeygrow and Sweetgreen offer a variety of food options, and they are generally regarded as higher-quality in comparison to the aforementioned. Even if they were only open on the weekends, these places would offer a nice break from the same old campus food, and they would be something to look forward to over the weekend.
With so much space under the Commons buildings, a few fast food places could certainly be added in these spots. Close to the center of campus, these places would be easily accessible for most Villanova residents, allowing for quick-and-easy pickup. “They should put them in the old library on the bottom floor,” sophomore Maggie Coia said, suggesting yet another place one or two of these fast food places could go. With Holy Grounds already having a location there, I am certain another fast food option would do well in this spot.
Residents Emily Walsh and Brian Teeter are in favor of a Chick-fil-A on campus.
“We made the step with Starbucks, so I feel like the next logical step would be to add something like a Chick-fil-A,” Teeter said.
Some of my friends who go to other colleges have Chick-fil-A on their campuses, and they absolutely love it. If it can work on other campuses, certainly it can work at Villanova, right?
“I would like to have a Playa Bowls on campus because the current smoothie options on campus are very limited,” sophomore Ava Felice said, concerned about not getting enough fresh fruit on campus.
However, some residents are skeptical about adding fast food to Villanova.
“It takes business away from local places that honestly have better food,” Fatima Salman said.
While this is a valid claim, there are many fast food places, such as Sweetgreen and Honeygrow, that have locations very close to campus. Many residents already DoorDash from these places, so adding them on campus would be a cheaper and more convenient way to get the same food. Plus, these businesses would likely increase their profit if they made their food even more accessible than it already is.
“I think that adding some fast food chains would be nice, but honestly, I’d rather the school put more money into improving the quality of the dining halls,” sophomore Luke Fabietti said.
Perhaps the school’s way of putting more money into the dining halls could be adding a fast food chain or two within them. To make things even more convenient, these fast food places could take meal swipes. I know that many people, including myself, have too many meal swipes left by the end of the week as a result of ordering from fast food places. Therefore, if meal plans covered fast food places on campus, many more students would use up their meals and get their money’s worth.
Villanova should consider this and add fast food chains to campus.
