At the Core of UA students’ diets

TUCSON, Ariz. – The UA Student Union has long been known as a place where finding a crisp-looking salad can be about as hard as discovering filet mignon.

That changed with the opening of salad restaurant Core at the beginning of the school year right in the heart of the Union.

Core, which goes by the slogan “food your body loves,” offers a menu of salads with a plethora of healthy toppings for consumers to choose from starting at $5.49 for a basic salad, with protein toppings and dressings costing extra.

The salads include vegetables like bell peppers, tomato wedges and cucumbers and proteins like marinated tofu, salami and sautéed shrimp on top of lettuce like crisp romaine or fresh baby spinach. Rice and dressings can be added as well as soups, all of which start with the preface “vegetarian.”

Thus far the response from students to this new kind of restaurant has been “overwhelming,” according to David Galbraith, the Assistant Director of Arizona Student Unions.

"I didn’t think it would be quite this well received,” he said. “It’s pretty surprising. I don’t think anyone dreamed we would get that many people to dine there a day. It’s getting some definite national attention because people know one’s done, that (we’ve) pulled this one off. Nobody’s gone to this ingredient level and system.”

Galbraith added Core has gotten written up by trade magazines, as Union administrators around the country look to Arizona as an example.

Although Galbraith and his crew came up with the idea for the concept of the restaurant, it then went to UA Prof. Jackson Boelts’ design class, where students competed to come up with the design for the restaurant.

Acacia Betancourt, a UA graphic design senior, ended up with the top model, which eventually became Core.

She picked the name because it means many things and she thought everybody could relate with it at some level.

“Core is the core of your body, core food groups would be served at the restaurant and just core is the essence or most important part of something,” she said. “I felt the name really reflected the food well and the whole healthy idea behind it.”

She came up with Core’s logo with the bean sprouting out of the ‘o’ because the bean is meant to symbolize the beginning of something, in this case the new trend in healthy eating on campus.

The first couple months Core was open Betancourt said she joined the crowds by eating there about once a week.

“I really like the salads,” she said. “They’re really cheap and give you a lot of food, and I like being able to pick foods.”

Galbraith, who has been in this industry for about 35 years, said he was skeptical at first about placing a salad eatery in the middle of a Student Union better known for fast food, as he was not sure if there would be actual financial support from UA eaters to match the cries for healthier food.

He attributes the restaurant’s success to how students have changed mainly over the last three years.

“A year or two ago it was getting pretty serious,” Galbraith said. “Last year I said, ‘It’s finally time.’ A lot of it is a gut feeling, what can I pull off and succeed at.”

If the early returns are any indication Core has been a success – and not just with your everyday health freaks.