Crisp Kitchen offers a fresh twist on campus dining
Healthy fast food, what more could you want?
We have no shortage of options when it comes to on campus dining. Food trucks and carts line the streets we walk on every day to get from one class to the next, chain and local restaurants are scattered amongst the campus’ perimeter, and Temple has Sodexo staffed dining halls and snack areas in most buildings.
Last Tuesday, the Temple area welcomed its latest restaurant, Crisp Kitchen.
Since opening in 2014, the View at Montgomery has had no problem filling its 832 bed capacity, but the same cannot be said for its first floor suites. In the same season the residential space opened, chains, Chipotle and Potbelly set up shop at the View – meanwhile, the other two first floor suites stayed empty.
Business partners Rick Petrone and Anthony Rufo teamed up to provide Temple students with its latest restaurant, Crisp Kitchen. A line style, fast food restaurant specializing in stir fries, salads, soups, and frozen yogurt.
“Allowing people to create their own thing was a big idea” said Rick.
The dining experience is similar to a Subway, with a menu consisting of specials but service that encourages customers to build their meals the way they like. The order process also builds off of ideas used by other establishments – customers use touch screen tablets to select their meals and pay on sight. This order process is similar to the convenience store chain Wawa, a favorite to Philadelphians.
Rick, a West Chester native, has Temple ties. Several of his family members of graduated from the university – one of his cousins attends the university today and lives above the newly established restaurant.
Rick and Anthony teamed up with Chef Joe Betzala, who has over 25 years of experience in the restaurant business, including 13 years owning his own catering company. The trio’s goal is to make healthy and fresh food that everybody can enjoy.
Petrone hopes to have found his niche at Temple with cuisine catering to healthier diets, a direction he sees today’s youth heading toward.
“My kids don’t eat McDonald’s,” he said. “ They’ve been moving away from the unhealthy foods. This is the way of the future.”
So far the reaction to Crisp Kitchen has been positive. On it’s opening night the restaurant ran out of food, hours before their scheduled closing time.