Hillsdale students may eat “Mor Chikin” as Hillsdale College Dining Services works toward bringing Chick-fil-A to campus.

Metz Executive Chef Adam Harvey said the dining service’s goal could mean a physical building on campus in the future.

“We just want to establish relationships with Chick-fil-A,” he said. “Eventually, we want them on campus in some capacity, whether that be an established building or not.”

As a company, Metz International’s standing relationship with Chick-fil-A allows it to bring the restaurant’s food to college campuses across the country, said general manager of Hillsdale College Dining Services Jeffery Cassell.

“Metz International has a relationship with Chick-fil-A,” he said. “That relationship looks different depending on the college. On some campuses, we run Chick-fil-A Express.”

While having a brick-and-mortar store on Hillsdale’s campus is not an option quite yet, Cassell said Metz will continue to build a relationship with Chick-fil-A.

“Chick-fil-A’s values really align with that of Metz and of the college,” Cassell said. “That is something that is really important to us because if we are going to partner with a company, we want to make sure that we hold similar values and are working to promote the same things.”

Chick-fil-A has made frequent appearances this semester in the Knorr Family Dining Room, said Tammy Cole, Metz operations manager.

“These Chick-fil-A nights have been happening about every two weeks,” Cole said. “We heard from students that they wanted more options for dining. And at Metz, we wanted to bring in something innovative for students to enjoy.”

The next Chick-fil-A night in the dining hall will take place on reading day, Dec. 6, at dinner.

Getting these hundreds of Chick-fil-A sandwiches to campus takes some logistical planning, Cole said.

“We place an order with Chick-fil-A, and they do two deliveries – one at about 5 p.m. and another at around 7 p.m.,” she said. “There are about 400 sandwiches in each order, so a total of about 800 sandwiches every time.”

Outside the dining hall, Cole said Chick-fil-A has made appearances at various campus sporting events.

“It’s been popular,” she said. “We’ve done it in that way in part to get a crowd to come support Hillsdale athletics, and it’s been effective.”

Cassell said ultimately, Metz wants to do what it can to best serve Hillsdale students. 

“It’s all about what Metz can bring to the table,” he said. “We as Metz want to enhance our offerings on campus.”

If Metz is able to bring Chick-fil-A to campus in a more permanent way, Cassell said he hopes it would provide students with a feeling of home.

“It was brought to my attention that only 17% of Hillsdale’s student population is from Michigan, and Chick-fil-A is hard to find in Michigan,” he said. “That means that all other students are from places where Chick-fil-A has more of a presence. For these students, Chick-fil-A is like a taste of home, and we want to be able to bring that to them as much as we can.”

Cassell said the Chick-fil-A nights in the dining hall will continue despite the cost of the events.

“It’s not cheap,” he said. “My debit card hurts twice a month now. But we’ve heard good student feedback, and we are going to continue this.”