Provo and Orem are home to tens of thousands of students attending BYU and other nearby universities, and some students say restaurants close too early for their liking.
Pre-business student Kaden Dengin expressed his feelings about restaurants in and around Provo.
“I would definitely say that most places close way too early,” he said.
Dengin explained college students are busy all day with schoolwork or jobs, and the only free time is in the evenings.
“By that time everything is pretty much closed … places like Rancherito’s, In-N-Out, Raising Cane’s and so forth are the places to be,” he said.
Although there are some fast-food restaurants open until later, Dengin said, “It would be nice though to have more options.”
Dengin was not the only one with these feelings. Mechanical engineering student Greg Simonsen shared that food places close too early for him. He said that many students are out late at night and up early in the morning.
“When I want a late dinner or snack, it can be hard to find somewhere to eat because many places close at 10 p.m.,” he said.
The Orem location of breakfast restaurant IHOP provides 24-hour service. Sherif Soud, the general manager of IHOP, said IHOP is a popular place for students in the late night.
“A lot of students come late at night, not the early mornings though. It does help out the restaurant a lot,” he said.
Sold mentioned that it is difficult to find people who are willing to work through the night.
“It’s a challenge every day … I’m always hiring, we need overnight people,” he said.
The majority of employees in 17 of Utah’s McDonald’s locations are students, according to Charlotte Lake, a human resources representative for a regional McDonald’s office.
“About 75% of employees are students,” she said.
Lake mentioned that it is not too hard to find people to work overnight.
“During the night there is less flow of traffic, so we have less people working at night,” she said.
The fast-food chains in Provo and Orem open past midnight are McDonald’s, Wendy’s on University Ave, Taco Bell, Raising Cane’s, Sonic, Rancherito’s, In-N-Out and Arby’s on the weekends.
