By Cooper Fojas

Chick-fil-A’s innovation, Little Blue Menu, opened Sept. 14 on Baltimore Avenue as the latest addition to the College Park food landscape. The experimental restaurant has received support and pushback from the community in the first weeks since opening.

After preliminary testing for the concept took place in Nashville two years ago, College Park was chosen for Little Blue Menu’s first and only current standalone location, according to Chick-fil-A’s website. Little Blue Menu marketing head Kanika Patrick acknowledged College Park as a “center of innovation.”

Void of dine-in options, the restaurant only fulfills online orders for pickup, delivery and catering. Little Blue Menu’s goal is to give customers a taste of “new, soon-to-be favorites,” according to the company’s website. The menu features Chick-fil-A regulars as well as new items like wings and burgers. 

As the highest-rated fast food restaurant each year since 2015 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Chick-fil-A’s new restaurant was bound to attract a large number of customers, including UMD students and College Park residents. But the restaurant’s location on Baltimore Avenue means its popularity has brought some unfavorable traffic developments, according to District 3 College Park City council member Stuart Adams.

“I’ve seen vehicles parked on the sidewalk and I’ve seen vehicles parked on Baltimore Avenue with their flashers on, walking in to pick up orders,” Adams said. “I hope those are just isolated incidents and that they won’t continue.”

Adams is adamant pedestrian safety is at risk during Little Blue Menu’s busy hours. But some students believe the restaurant’s car-oriented setup improves customer experiences by limiting their interactions with staff.

“I never saw the inside of the place,” said Graham Hardiman, a junior criminology and criminal justice major. “They want to get people in and out as fast as possible.”

Unlike Chick-fil-A’s restaurant in Stamp Student Union, Little Blue Menu is a stand alone building and lets customers use the Chick-fil-A mobile app to place their orders. Users accumulate reward points with each order, which can be used in exchange for free menu items.

Daniel Cesare, a junior business information systems major, said the convenience of the app makes Little Blue Menu the more desirable experience between the two Chick-fil-A options.

“It makes it a lot smoother than having to go up and order,” Cesare said. “I’m trying to work on my points and get some free french fries.”

Before the Little Blue Menu plan was finalized, Adams was in favor of a business that was not a “quasi drive-thru” and generated more foot traffic than car traffic. Still, Adams praised Chick-fil-A’s reputation as a titan in the fast food industry.

“The lane use did not seem to align with the vision of College Park to be walkable and bikeable,” Adams said. “But we also need to understand that the city’s growing and the demands are there.”

Students still feel that Baltimore Avenue lacks a certain degree of uniqueness, especially with the recent closures of the Campus Village Shoppes a few blocks north on Baltimore Avenue.

“There’s so many people that go to the Little Blue Menu that eventually, they’re bound to make two Little Blue Menus,” Hardiman said. “My fear is a corporation like Chick-fil-A kind of taking over College Park.”

Featured Image: Little Blue Menu on Baltimore Ave. between Guilford Drive and Hartwick Road on Oct. 3, 2023. Photo by Cooper Fojas.