By Ashlee LeSueur
The new addition to the BYU creamery family offers more than ice cream. With a full line of groceries, a full service bakery and grill, The BYU Creamery on Ninth takes the creamery tradition to a new level.
And the party starts Aug. 24, as the Grand Opening Celebration hosts a band from 9-11 p.m.
“We’ll be like ‘The Max’ on Saved by the Bell,” said student manager Robyn Jackman.
Jackman, 20, a junior from Bakersfield, Calif., majoring in nursing, is one of six student managers.
The BYU Creamery on Ninth booths are reminiscent of a ’60s-type diner and will soon be accompanied by a juke box.
According to Jackman, there are only two full-time employees at the BYU Creamery on Ninth, and the rest of the work is picked up by nearly 50 student employees with part-time shifts.
The 9th Street Grill, inside the new creamery, grills hamburgers and sandwiches and has room to seat nearly 80 people. The seating capacity is the biggest dining area on campus except for the Cougareat, according to Jackman.
The Creamery on Ninth is open from 8 a.m. to midnight, giving students looking for a late treat another option.
Students working at the new Creamery look forward to the traffic of returning students. They hope it becomes a social place as well as a food place.
“I think it is so much fun to work here. I love it,” said Rachel Beecher, 18, a freshman ice cream scooper from La Verkin, Utah. “I am with great people, and I serve ice cream. Who could complain?”
The groceries are stocked by Associated Foods, the same vendor that stocks grocery stores like Macey’s, which insures the same pricing as Macey’s.
The Creamery on Ninth carries a full line of produce, presented in baskets and bunches similar to fresh fruit and vegetable stands.
“We even have rhubarb,” Jackman boasted. “Nobody has rhubarb.”
All dairy products are produced by the Creamery, the meats are from the acclaimed BYU meats department, and the breads are baked in-house every day.
With everything the new Creamery has going for it, a down side may be the rate at which the checkout lines go.
Right now there are only two checkout lines for the grocery store, and one each for the ice cream and grill.
“As our cashiers get more practice, the lines will move more quickly. Also, during the day when the grill and the ice cream bar aren’t busy, they can take grocery overflow,” Jackman said.
Although the new Creamery, on the corner of 900 East and Heritage Drive, is so close to The Creamery that serves Deseret Towers, this new facility is meant to target off-campus students and students in Heritage Halls. Heritage Halls dorms have full kitchens which creates a need for close groceries for those on-campus students.
According to Jackman, no Dining Plus cards can be used at The Creamery on Ninth, but Heritage Gold and Platinum cards are taken as well as BYU Signature cards.
