State College, PA
Au Bon Pain (now reunited with their sister company, Panera Bread Company) has always had a presence in special locations, such as food halls, airports, and train stations.
Our introduction was with 3 concurrent locations on Penn State’s main campus. The special focus was to be open and ready for 60,000 students on check in day.
The project started as 2 locations and grew to a third remote site supported by the other cafes. The coordination of services and areas was an ongoing dialogue between JLA, Au Bon Pain and the people at Penn State’s physical plant. In a setting like higher education, you can always count on change. These projects were no different. None-the-less, we moved the project forward consistently, taking care to respect and fill the needs of PSU and ABP’s contractor. The end goal of fulfilling the needs of those students was achieved as evidenced by the day-one hour lines for the hottest meal on campus.
As a result of the overnight success, a fourth location at the law school was soon added.
Services: restaurant, university food service, roll-out, fit-out, adapted re-use