Baguetteaboutit is forgetting about only serving its sandwiches from a truck.
The company, which has operated successfully as a food truck throughout the Research Triangle area since December 2011, is taking a step toward opening its own brick-and mortar restaurant on Miami Boulevard in Durham. Although the official grand opening is Monday, an opening celebration took place Friday night with a food truck rodeo in the restaurant’s new parking lot.
Gillian Mclane, the general manager of the new restaurant, said the addition of the restaurant could have significant benefits for the company. She believes that it will enjoy steady business from locals who work in Research Triangle Park.
“I think it is a good expansion of the business,” she said. “I think it is a great opportunity, especially with the location that it is at.”
Since Baguetteaboutit imported the French sandwich specialty to North Carolina, the sandwiches have been selling quickly. At a Raleigh food truck rodeo on Oct. 13, the truck sold 300 to 350 sandwiches over a four-hour period, Kirkland said. This kind of success encouraged the business to consider opening a restaurant.
Baguetteaboutit’s specialty offerings include sausage sandwiches, a variation of a typical American hot dog. Two vegetarian sandwiches are also offered on the food truck. Kirkland said that the restaurant menu would expand on that of the food truck, including items such as Greek salad, buffalo chicken, side salads and cookies.
Kirkland stressed the similarities between the truck and the restaurant operations, noting that despite the additions to the menu, the process for cooking the food will be the same.
“Pretty much it’s the same process we do on the truck, just a bigger kitchen,” Kirkland said. “We don’t want to change the way we do things because it works the way it is.”
To serve more people, Baguetteaboutit has hired additional employees, and some of the current employees are shifting from the food truck to the restaurant. Mclane, who had worked on the food truck before she became the general manager of the restaurant, said that many of the staff will work in both locations.
Baguetteaboutit does not intend to make changes to the operating hours of the truck.
“We will keep our schedule as full as we can,” Kirkland said.
Although the store will not accept food points and will lack the conveniency of the on-campus food truck, some student patrons are enthusiastic about the opening of the restaurant.
Freshman Sierra Tolbert said that she would be willing to drive to the restaurant since she has a car. Even though she can eat from the Baguetteaboutit food truck on campus, Tolbert said that she will value having the option to sit down with her friends and enjoy her meals.
“Just getting people together, eating and having fun— that’s our goal,” Kirkland said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.