By Rachel Lea
Correspondent
On Sunday, Jan. 29, Arooga’s Grille House and Sports Bar closed its Campus Town location. This comes after only being in business for a little more than a year, opening on Dec. 12, 2021.
“I wish I could have gone more times,” said Kathyrn Tapp, a sophomore kinesiology health science major. “I have had previous fun experiences there. I have never been anywhere like it, and it is a shame to see it go.”
It is surprising that Arooga’s closed, especially so soon. Originating in Pennsylvania, the restaurant chain’s extensive menu consisted of many gluten-free and vegan options, and all of their dishes used fresh, organic ingredients with no antibiotics. Considering the growing awareness of the environment and a desire for healthier meals, this type of menu makes restaurants like Arooga’s very popular.
Furthermore, opening a location in Campus Town seemed to guarantee the restaurant’s success. It gave students from the College another place to eat and hang out.
“I liked [Arooga’s],” continued Tapp. “I thought that there was a nice environment and that it brought college students together. I thought it was nice for [the College] to have.’’
Arooga’s also offered over a hundred jobs to the public, and many students took the opportunity. According to Cristian Diaz, a junior accounting major who worked at the restaurant, about 50 percent of the staff were students — both undergraduates and graduates.
“Needing some extra spending money, Arooga’s was a brand new place,” Diaz said. “And with me living on Campus Town, there wasn’t an easier and more convenient place to work. As a host, I loved coming into work and seeing certain faces. I would definitely say that it was a great place to work for.”
What is most surprising, however, was how Arooga’s closed. There was no prior announcement or a final push to attract customers. The restaurant was open on Sunday, but the next day, it wasn’t.
“My roommate told me,” Tapp said. “She just wanted to get some fries, and [the foreman] said, ‘Get out of here.’ I didn’t know that they were going to close; we didn’t know.”
Despite working for the restaurant since opening day, Diaz is also not sure why he lost his job and wasn’t even notified until the last day.
“On Sunday, I received a call from a coworker who had heard a rumor,” Diaz said. “He said, ‘Tonight looks to be the last night for Arooga’s’. It seemed to him that corporate had come in and shut it down for good. Monday morning you could see the U-Haul trucks being loaded up with chairs.”
Not even Greg Lentine, the director of residential sales for PRC Group, which manages Campus Town, could provide a concrete answer as to why Arooga’s closed. Nevertheless, he provided two possible explanations.
The first involves Covid-19. Despite the growing flexibility of mask mandates and availability of vaccines, people are still cautious about eating out in public. Having food delivered to one’s home or event remains popular, while one of Arooga’s advertising points is having over 80 television sets to watch sports games while you eat in the restaurant.
Lentine went on to explain that inflation could have also played a role in Arooga’s downfall. Diaz also admitted that the use of organic ingredients made the menu expensive, especially for students.
Furthermore, some of the students willing to try the food weren’t fans of it.
Though sophomore and early childhood education major Sky Yannello said that all of the food had great flavor, she also described the burgers as very greasy. All of this could have made it impossible for Arooga’s to keep up with rising pricings without scaring their customers.
Diaz also provided an additional theory: alcohol control.
“When Arooga’s first opened, it had to start with many alcohol rules and restrictions,” Diaz explained. “Being on a college campus made it very tough for Arooga’s to be like its other locations. Those included DJ’s, party-like atmospheres and many drink specials. [The College] wanted nothing like that, which could be a large reason why it wasn’t as successful.”
The restrictions Diaz mentioned were placed by the College and are the result of the death of Michael Sot, a 20-year-old sophomore math major who was killed in a head-on collision on Pennington Road. The offending driver, David Lamar, was driving under the influence after leaving Landmark Americana Tap & Grill, the restaurant that Arooga’s replaced three years after Sot’s death.
Regardless of the reason, many remain hopeful that the space Arooga’s left behind can be filled. Lentine is currently scouting two restaurants to open one on Campus Town in the place of Arooga’s. Although he could not reveal the exact identities of these candidates, he confirmed that both are sports bars that are comfortable with food delivery.
While some students, like Tapp, hope that this mystery bar will be similar to Arooga’s, others are ready to try something new.
“I can see many different places that would thrive in that spot,” Diaz said. “Chipotle, a bagel place or even a pizza spot would attract many college students.”
Until then, Arooga’s Grille House and Sports Bar will be missed by the College community. One can only hope that whoever takes its place will have more success than its predecessor while still remaining a fun place for everyone to enjoy.
