After the student center disappeared into the history of Chung-Ang University, various major classes began being held in the R&D (Building 102) and Building 310, both newly built (in 2009 and 2016, respectively) buildings, where many students attend classes. These buildings have something else in common: they both have stores with the name of CAU-brand. CAU-brand stores are popular among the students due to their excellent accessibility and reasonable prices. While CAU-brand stores have become a familiar part of the students’ daily routine for years, these stores have something interesting and unique background stories that tell us more about the history of CAU.

 

CAU Burgers, Always with Us for 18 Years

           CAU Burgers, named after CAU, the English abbreviation of Chung-ang University, opened in 2000 in the old student center and is still serving various burgers to students on the fourth-floor basement of Building 310. Many students call the restaurant by its pet name, ‘Cow Burgers’, which originated from the continuous pronunciation of CAU. But, who runs CAU Burgers? You might have wondered. Chung-ang University manages it with Cham-seul-gi restaurant, the Law-school Building restaurant, and a student restaurant at Building 310. CAU Burgers serves various hamburger sets for cheaper prices than other franchise stores. Furthermore, a part of the profits from products sold are used for the students’ welfare.

What students may not know is that CAU Burgers has undergone many adversities throughout its 18 years of operation. At one time, Papayes and Burger king, two strong competitors of CAU Burgers, opened new stores at the main gate of CAU. With the arrival of these new competitors, CAU Burgers was in danger of losing its customers, CAU students. Thanks to the students’ loyal patronage and their love for CAU Burgers, however, CAU Burgers was able to win the competition against the two larger franchises, who were forced leave the main gate of CAU. This is in contrast to fast-food restaurants at other universities, which disappeared in the early 2000s to the success of large franchises. Despite several threats from competitors, CAU Burgers alone remains firmly in place and has become a specialty of CAU.

The story behind CAU Burgers can be found not only in the history above but also the transition of the store’s menus. On the 2003 menu, for instance, you could find pork cutlet burgers and Shintoburi kimchi pancakes, neither of which are on the current menu. Instead, on the latest menu, you can find new additions, such as Ginger Chicken Burger, Hash-brown, and Tornado-potato. What's more surprising, is that the developer of the newly added menu is a dietician who is cooking the menu at Cham-seul-gi restaurant!

 

Showing CAU Spirit, CAU Logo Shop

           CAU Logo Shop offers a wide range of products using University Identity (UI) of CAU, including baseball jackets, notebooks, and more. Like other universities, Chung-ang University operates its own logo shop for a promotional purpose, marketing their products to visitors of the university. Unlike other universities, however, the CAU Logo Shop has only been running for less than 10 years. The CAU Logo Shop started to operate in 2011 and it has been providing various goods on the first basement level of R&D ever since. How were UI products sold before 2011? Well, surprisingly, there was no official seller of UI merchandise. Baseball jackets with the CAU Logos were sold at an athletic goods store, and stationary products with the CAU brnad image were sold at Du-me stationary store, both of which were located in the old student center. Due to the absence of an official seller for UI products, many problems with the UI products arose, and, as a result, the promotions department at CAU launched the CAU Logo Shop to enhance its image management business in 2011.

 

In addition to the stores mentioned above, Cafe At 100, which stands for its location on the 1^st floor of CAU’s 100^th Anniversary Building, recently expanded, opening two new stores ( one in Building 303 and one near Heuk-seok Station) sharing the 100^th anniversary of CAU with CAU students and publics. The CAU-brand stores, which offer quick meals and reasonable prices, are still open from morning to night for students' convenience. Furthermore, based on symbols that are closely related to CAU, they play a role in promoting CAU not only to CAU students but also to visitors. Even if CAU-brand stores have already become a part of students’ daily lives, the stories behind these stores can give new freshness to their boring routine.