B&G Food Enterprises gained possession of the former Arby’s restaurant on Burbank Drive on June 29 and will convert it into a Taco Bell.Gregory Hamer, B&G Food Enterprises franchisee president, said he had hoped to have the restaurant opened by the start of the fall semester, but after recent delays, he now hopes to have it open by Sept. 1.Hamer said the company would not tear down the current building.”We are going to do a major remodel,” he said. “We will keep some parts of the building, but it will look completely new.”
The Taco Bell will have dining packages, an idea being tested at a Taco Bell in New Orleans.”One-half will be a traditional restaurant, and the other half will have couches, chairs and computer hook-ups,” Hamer said.
Derek Anton, business management junior, said he does not plan to hang out or study in the dining package area.”There is no way I would study in a fast food restaurant,” he said. “Most of the time it smells bad inside there. I use the drive-thru.”Daren Cressionnie, an assistant manager at the Chimes Textbook Exchange on Burbank, said even with the dining package he doesn’t feel Taco Bell will become a place to hang out.”A lot of places have Wi-Fi now, but it’s not meant to be a place to hang out,” he said. “People use it to get online while they eat. The smell and traffic would not be conducive to a study environment, unless it was a separate room.”Hamer said the company plans to have a grand opening for the Taco Bell about a month after it opens so the crew will have time to prepare and adjust.The company will begin hiring employees three weeks before the opening date given by the architect, Hamer said. “We are looking to hire management positions and people who have experience running a restaurant now,” he said.
B&G Food Enterprises has Taco Bell restaurants in the surrounding area, but this will be the first Taco Bell they will operate in Baton Rouge.
“I’ve been trying to get a Taco Bell here for 20 years, since my daughters went to LSU and had to drive to the one on College Drive,” Hamer said.Anton, who usually goes to the Taco Bell at the 459 Commons, said he would start going to the one on Burbank Drive once it opens.”It will be more convenient to go to the one on Burbank Drive,” he said. Cressionnie said the employees at Chimes Textbook Exchange have discussed whether they will be eating lunch more frequently at Izzo’s Illegal Burrito or Taco Bell, both located next to the bookstore.”If time and money were a factor, I’d pick Taco Bell,” he said.B&G Food Enterprises is a franchisee that operates 55 Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. The headquarters is in Morgan City.–
Contact Celeste Ansley at [email protected]