Popular fast food chain restaurant Checkers may soon be coming to Allendale within the next year. For Grand Valley State University students and the community, this means another dining option, more opportunities for student employment and readily-available comfort food. 

Checkers’ Director of Franchise Development Bruce Kim said that Checkers already has a wide variety of locations, many of which are in the greater Grand Rapids area. The spread to Allendale is a result of franchising interest in the new location, providing accessibility to GVSU students.

“We currently have 882 stores in total, with six being in the metro Grand Rapids area such as Holland and Muskegon,” Kim said. ‘We have room for at least 10 more new stores in the Grand Rapids area. We’re franchise-driven, so what happens is when finance approves of franchising in a certain area, our real estate team will start working with them on locations. Franchising gives us a general idea of where they want to be, and as long as it makes sense, then we’ll look within that trade area for a suitable site. We have somebody who has expressed interest near (GVSU) in Allendale.”

Kim said that while nothing is finalized because the company is still in the lengthy process of negotiating, Allendale can most likely expect a new restaurant sometime within the next year, as it takes about nine months to find a solid building, get permits and to open the store. 

Once established, Kim said that Checkers will play a valuable role in giving students a bang for their buck when dining out.

“We like being near colleges because we’re actually a value brand,” Kim said. “Being a value brand, our food is delicious and affordable. Grand Valley State University has a lot of kids that love our food because for five bucks, you get more food than anybody else.”

The new restaurant will be made in the new modular 4.0 style, meaning it will be built quicker, cheaper and more environmentally friendly. 

“We have several ways to build a store,” Kim said. “We can take an existing building that used to be a restaurant and convert it and renovate it — put lipstick on it, make it look nice – or we can scrape off a building and build a new building, or, on a blank piece of land, you can plop a modular building, which is kind of cool.”

The modular 4.0 style building is constructed in Florida and shipped to the restaurant site where it will be constructed. The ease of building means that the process of completing the restaurant will be a rapid one. 

“It’s like a giant Lego set,” Kim said. “It’s built off site in a warehouse, and then shipped to the site when the foundation and utilities are ready. The crew, with cranes, puts the restaurant together with four pieces, into one, and it’s cool. It’s a pre-built building –and we’re not talking trailer homes, these are really sturdy, commercial grade, 120,000 lb. buildings. It’s faster, cheaper, and more convenient than building it new.” 

Kim said that with over 20,000 students in attendance at GVSU, there are sure to be a lot of students looking for something like Checkers — whether it comes from the great, value priced food or the new job opportunities that its opening will create.