If you are hungry, head on out to West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Beginning this fall semester, the university will have new food service options available for students, faculty, and staff on the Parkersburg campus, and the community is invited to stop by and sample the cuisine.

Ricky’s Café, operated by the university, is expected to open by the end of August, serving full breakfast and lunch options. New vending machines provided by CRJ Vending are stocked around campus, and Chick-fil-A will be serving lunch Monday through Friday 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., or while supplies last, beginning August 19.

“We did a survey of our campus community about food preferences last semester and received about 300 responses. That’s an excellent cross section of our community. Respondents indicated that food quality and price are especially important concerns. We try always to be responsive to feedback, so we are building the menu at Ricky’s Café with these priorities in mind,” said WVU Parkersburg President Chris Gilmer.

“We also polled the community about food vendors they might like to see on campus, and Chick-fil-A polled especially high. It’s highly unusual for a small, rural college like ours to be able to attract a major restaurant chain to campus, and we are so pleased that our friends, the Angelos Family who own the local Chick-fil-A restaurants, answered our call. They have been upstanding citizens and business leaders in this community for decades, so we consider ourselves fortunate to affiliate with them,” Gilmer said.

He added that the university is also entertaining the possibility of a coffee kiosk or similar vendor to round out the options, but that they won’t move forward with any additional food vending options until Ricky’s Café is fully up and running. “First the cake, then the icing,” Gilmer said. “Our top priority is to provide lunch options for our students, faculty, and staff as quickly as we possibly can.”

While the university had been considering food service options for some time, the situation changed during the summer when the contract with its previous vendor ended unexpectedly. “I really want to commend our team for pulling together on short notice to provide economical and tasty dining options for our community,” Gilmer said. “We want people to be able to spend their money on choices that appeal to them for whatever reason, so it is important to have options. As always, our team put the needs of our community first and rose to the challenge.”