Carolina Dining Services will replace Jamba Juice once Freshens opens in the fall

Fans of Lenoir Dining Hall’s Jamba Juice will be disappointed when they return to campus this fall.

Carolina Dining Services is replacing the smoothie vendor with Freshens, which specializes in crepes and frozen yogurt.

Scott Myers, director of food and vending at UNC, said the decision was made to give students more choices.

He said Freshens offers a variety of foods, while Jamba Juice offers predominantly smoothies.

In addition to its signature crepes, Freshens also sells blended fruit smoothies similar to those provided by Jamba Juice, Myers said.

He said the decision was reviewed by the Student Dining Board of Directors.

“We think it will be a better operation with more variety,” he said.

Freshens is being built where the convenience store in the bottom of Lenoir used to be.

Jamba Juice’s current store area will be converted to extra seating, Myers said.

“We’ll put seating in where Jamba Juice is right now, but we won’t take it out until we’ve finished with the Freshens area,” he said.

Myers said construction on the space should finish in late May or early June, and that Freshens will be ready for the fall semester.

He said the staff currently employed at Jamba Juice will be able to take other positions within Carolina Dining Services.

“There will be a lot of opportunities with the Wendy’s opening up in the Student Union that they’ll be able to look in to, as well as at Lenoir,” Myers said.

Construction on the 24-hour Wendy’s is expected to begin in May, after Union renovations are completed.

Claudia Gallardo, who works at Jamba Juice, said she is upset about the change.

“It’s very sad — I don’t know why they’re closing Jamba Juice,” she said.

“Everybody likes it.”

Although Myers said he was optimistic that the move would be a success, some Jamba Juice customers had mixed feelings.

Nicole Bauer, a graduate student in history, said the decision was a bad idea that did not take into account other nearby frozen yogurt vendors.

“Jamba Juice is really popular,” she said. “Don’t we have enough frozen yogurt places in Chapel Hill?” she added.

“We have Sweet Frog … I don’t know why we need a frozen yogurt place on campus when we can just walk to Franklin,” she said.

But sophomore Ben Gellman said he was not concerned as long as smoothies were still available somewhere in Lenoir.

“I’m not particularly attached to the Jamba Juice brand,” he said.

“If Freshens can deliver the same product for about the same price, I don’t really care,” he added.

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