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Manolo's Pizza & Empanadas »
Address: 1115 W. Oregon St., Ste. B Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 365-0110
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Junior's Burgers and Cozy's Custard »
Address: 1511 West Springfield Ave Champaign, IL 61821
Phone: (217) 689-4799
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Most people’s concerns for the Taste of CU are making sure they maximize ticket usage, hoping for good weather and avoiding lines. But for the seven new restaurants joining the list of vendors this year, their concerns are much greater. What to serve, how much food is needed and how to keep it fresh are all thoughts that are sure to be on these vendors’ minds as they serve the crowds at Westside Park.

One of the new businesses looking to bring something new to this year’s Taste is Manolo’s Pizza and Empanadas. Tracy Pate, the assistant manager of Manolo’s, said the restaurant’s decision to join this year was sparked by their success at Summer Camp Music Festival, held earlier this year.

“We feel like we’re ready,” Pate said. “People went crazy for [the empanadas].”

“Someone said they spent their last five dollars on us,” added Amanda Attreau, a delivery driver for Manolo’s.

And when it comes to serving up those beef, chicken, vegetable and dessert empanadas, Pate and crew have the logistics covered. She said they plan to cook the empanadas in the store with a constant stream of delivery drivers bringing them over to Westside Park. “We’re in full production,” Pate said.

For Howbowda Bagel, another first-year vendor, the goal for this year’s Taste is to achieve a sense of belonging and to gain status in the community.

“We’re starting to feel at home in Champaign,” said Ryan McNeily, the co-owner of Howbowda Bagel. “One year under your belt makes you excited.”

With plans to sell a variety of dishes, including small portions of the popular All-American Zooker, bagels and cream cheese, homemade iced tea and New York-style cookies, McNeily said he and his staff are planning ahead to make sure things run as smoothly as possible.

“We’re making sure we have all of our ducks in a row,” McNeily said. “We’re working on promotions to rile people up and getting the logistics of it down.”

And Junior’s Burgers and Cozy’s Custard is doing the same. Owner Rich Minick said after years of debating, they finally decided to commit to their first-ever Taste this year. In order to accommodate the droves of people, Minick said Junior’s will be modifying their menu by offering sliders, or miniature burgers, as well as single ice cream scoop cups, cones and sundaes. All of their efforts are going into making sure they are not guilty of the biggest gripe of Taste-goers — running out of food.

“We want to avoid that as much as possible,” Minick said. “We’re estimating the amount of people we expect to see and adding 25 percent.”

Yet while Junior’s, Howbowda Bagel and Manolo’s all made the decision to join the Taste for different reasons, all of the restaurants agree it’s a great opportunity to get their name out in the community.

“This is a big event in CU over the summer,” McNeily said. “It’s a big draw for people off-campus, to draw different demographics, reach out to people we can’t see.”

“It’s fun for everyone,” Minick said. “Everyone likes trying new food … it’s an all-around nice experience.”