Students craving a Frosty, a Gordita Supreme or some Crazy Bread will have to look somewhere other than the MSU campus next year.
The Wendy's and Taco Bell in the International Center and the Wendy's and Little Caesars Pizza in the Union will close at the end of Spring semester after they decided not to rebid on their current contracts, said Jim Sheppard, manager of the Union.
Taco Bell and both Wendy's locations have been at those MSU spots since 1995, and Little Caesars is the longest-running restaurant on campus, having been open since 1987, Sheppard said.
Both Wendy's stores are operated by Stanton & Associates Inc., which owns 63 Wendy's locations in Mid-Michigan.
Randy Israel, a partner at Stanton, said there were multiple reasons why the company decided not to stay.
Both stores must operate during summer and winter breaks when students aren't on campus, which makes for slow business, Israel said.
He added that the stores experience peak business during lunch hours, but receive almost no customers before or after, due to a lack of foot traffic.
"If you're a student after 5 p.m. and you're on Grand River, you're probably not going into Wendy's," Israel said. "There's still a lot of people that don't even know we're in there."
The university's 2020 Vision plan, which will replace parking lots around the International Center with park-like green space over the next two decades, will only further dry up foot traffic, Israel said.
"The direction we feel the university is going in the future will not be one that is good for the quick-service industry," Israel said. "These are great ideas - they're just not in our interest."
Molly Pung, vice president of operations for Old West Properties LLC, which owns the Taco Bell store, echoed Israel's rationale.
She said sales were highly seasonal, and any revenue made at the International Center location came directly from other local Taco Bell stores, which the company also owns.
"Why have three locations when we can have two?" Pung said.
Israel said the decision to pull Wendy's off the MSU campus was a difficult one, considering the long relationship between the two.
"There's nothing bad, no bad blood," Israel said. "We enjoyed being on campus; it's just not good for business."
Numerous calls to Little Caesars were not returned.
Sheppard said some provisions will be made to provide food service over the summer, and the university hopes to have all new operations up and running by the time students return in the fall.
No matter what is chosen to fill the void left by these restaurants, Sheppard said he is hopeful the university can continue to satisfy consumers' ever-morphing tastebuds.
"Food tastes change," Sheppard said. "The contracts we enter today will be enjoyed by kids who aren't even here yet, who are just 12 years old."
Sheppard said all other restaurants in the Union and International Center have rebid on their current locations, but that doesn't guarantee that any of them will return.
The decision on which stores to put in the locations should be made by early next month, Sheppard said.
Sheppard said next year's dining facilities might still include national chains, or might contain something entirely different.
"It's our full intention to bring in new concepts," Sheppard said. "We want a concept that will be popular and work."
Advertising junior Rob Schneider said he will be disappointed to see the stores leave, but thinks the university can boost business by reaching out to restaurants in the area.
"It all depends on what they replace it with," Schneider said. "I know a lot of students really love and support some of the local places. It would be cool if they came in and did something here - that would probably help their business."
