University of Chicago Medicine is opening a new food hall on its hospital campus this summer.
Located on the first floor of the Center for Care and Discovery, 5700 S. Maryland Ave., food hall vendors will be Burrito Beach, Sip of Hope Coffee and Root & Sprig. The eateries will be overseen by Health Hospitality Partners (HHP), a St. Louis-based company which primarily operates on hospital campuses.
Burrito Beach is a Chicago chain with seven other locations in the city, including at O’Hare Airport and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The chain serves Mexican street food meets “California fresh,” with offerings such as burritos, rice bowls and tacos.
Sip of Hope, a Logan Square coffee shop that opened in 2018, is the world’s first known coffee shop to donate 100% of its proceeds to support proactive suicide prevention and mental health education.
Started by nonprofit Hope For The Day, the shop is both a cafe and a venue for mental health resources and educational programming.
“We are so excited to bring Hope For The Day’s proactive suicide prevention and Sip of Hope’s coffee to the U. of C. campus,” said Brian Kmiecik, Sip of Hope’s general manager. “It’s been a dream of ours to expand and reach more folks in different communities, and we can’t wait to engage with our new neighbors over delicious coffee.”
Root & Sprig, the third addition, is a nationwide fast-casual chain from James Beard Award-winning chef Tom Colicchio that exclusively operates in health care settings. The menu includes breakfast options, sandwiches, soups and salads; it offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.
“These new food hall choices reflect input received from our employees and visitors in a survey last year,” said Emily Chase, the chief nursing officer and senior vice president of patient care services for the University of Chicago Medicine.
“Results demonstrated a desire to have more locally owned vendors with healthier food options, as well as mobile ordering, which all three restaurants will offer,” she said.
The renovated food hall replaces the Starbucks, which closed last January, and Qdoba Mexican Eats, which closed at the outset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. It joins SKY Café, run by Aramark’s food service, located on the seventh floor of the hospital.
In the interim, a temporary coffee cart called On The Go Jo Coffee has been set up in the lobby.
According to Meg Finn, HHP’s senior director of marketing, construction in the lobby is expected to continue for the next few months.
“We’re trying to make the most of the natural light that’s in the space,” she said. “We’re wanting to mostly just make sure that it feels light and spacious, even when it’s busy, and it just feels more like an escape for people when they’re at the hospital.”