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Pub Grub
The

Legendary

Nugget at CSULB

he Nugget is a legend on the campus of California State items to add. Flatbread pizzas are one of those additions. “The
University, Long Beach (CSULB) — and rumor has it flatbread idea came from students,” she said. “A lot of the
Tthat some legendary musical acts, like Led Zeppelin and menu items that we put on there and that continue to evolve,
Sublime, have played there. come from student input. When people request something,
“It is an iconic space,” said Kierstin Stickney, director of or they Yelp something, or they let us know that they would
marketing and communications with Forty-Niner Shops at like it, we take it seriously.”
the university. “It is probably the most popular restaurant on They also get ideas from a leadership class held for 49er
campus. It is a Cheers-type of atmosphere where Shops employees. “It is an eight-week-long course
everyone gathers.” that we put all of our students through who
The quick-service restaurant, which are going through supervisory or leader-
opened in 1976, features breakfast ship roles,” said Stickney. “One of
and a pub-type menu for lunch and the fun tasks they do is create a
dinner. “We serve our breakfast new item for The Nugget. Some
menu from 7:30 to 10:55 a.m.,” of the items on the menu have
said Stickney. “That has eggs, come from that class.”
omelets, oatmeal, French toast, In addition to the food be-
breakfast burritos, waffles, ing a draw to The Nugget, the
breakfast sandwiches and venue is home to a number of
breakfast bowls.” promotions to bring the guests
Some breakfast items are in. One of those promotions is
available all day. One popular “Whispering Word Wednesdays.”
item is the LB Burrito. “It has “We are always looking for fun lit-
eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, avo- tle things to do to engage students,”
cado, chipotle ranch, salsa and tater she said. “This is something that we
tots,” she said. “It is a pound.” do on social media every Wednesday.
The menu for the rest of the day is made up We rotate it between our dining locations.
of a variety of favorites. “We also have all kinds of We have a schedule where we do a promotion and
appetizers, quesadillas, burritos, chicken tenders,” said Stickney. have students whisper something to the cashiers in order to
“The chicken tenders are probably our most popular item.” redeem it. It is pretty fun. Students get into it. We will have
Another popular item according to Stickney is the Pub a couple hundred redemptions a day on those. Most of the
Burger. “It is a half-pound cheeseburger with jalapeños, bal- popular ones do occur at The Nugget. The most popular one
samic onion aioli on a potato bun. It takes a little longer to is usually $1 fries. They just love the $1 fries.”
cook, but we tell everybody it is worth the wait. It is a good Live entertainment is part of the atmosphere several times
burger.” a week. “We have entertainment a few nights a week, whether
While the Pub Burger has that be our K-Beach DJ, our on-campus radios station, or battle
been a mainstay for many of the bands or jazz nights,” said Stickney. “We have all kinds
years, the school is al- of stuff in there. It is a fun gathering place at night. It is busy
ways on the look- during the day. It is definitely one of our busier locations.”
out for new While The Nugget is usually closed on the weekends, a
recent promotion has drawn students during game days. “Right
now we are doing a promotion with Athletics and K-Beach
Radio where we have fives dates of popular men’s basketball
games,” she said. “We are doing a special promotion called
‘Meet Me at The Nugget.’ Two hours before these five men’s
basketball games, we have a DJ. We have a special $5 menu.
We are giving away a bunch of free gear. It is a pre-party
before you would walk down to the Pyramid where the men’s
basketball game takes place.” —OCH

14 | MARCH 2017 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY