At the soft opening for upstairs McEwen, Pei Wei debuted new technology. After students order, the restaurant gives them pagers that light up and buzz when the food is ready.
It’s a common practice among restaurants without wait staff, but new to Elon’s dining scene.
Steve Winters, the Vice President of International Operations for Pei Wei, was at the restaurant and said they wanted to try out the pagers because all of the food is individually prepared fresh to order. He wanted to give students the option to sit down while waiting.
Sophomore Taylor Cruz says a little bit of waiting is worth it.
“It’s so much better. I love it, that you can personalize whatever you are getting, it’s fresh and made right there,” Cruz said.
Freshman Austin Moore also gave the food a positive review.
“I thought the food was really good," Moore said. "I feel like Lakeside tries to have a lot of different international foods but I like to have one place that’s centralized internationally.”
There are more than 200 Pei Wei locations across the U.S., including spots on college campuses such as Arizona State and the University of Arkansas.
The college menu is a bit more limited than the normal retail locations, with about 13 entree options instead of the usual 40. Winters said this is because there’s limited space in the kitchen, and since they make everything on the spot, they can only store so many ingredients.
Village Juice Company also had its soft opening Monday afternoon. Both restaurants will be open to the public Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.