Faced with an increased workload during and immediately following the pandemic, UM Health-Sparrow nurse Paul Hamby regularly heard the Michigan State University student nurses he worked alongside complain about the lack of quality late-night food available after their shifts.
Many of those students lived just east of campus, near Hagadorn Road, he said. He and his wife, Mindy, also a nurse, began to consider opening a restaurant in that area.
Their vision started to take shape after they visited an I Heart Mac & Cheese franchise in Las Vegas. The chain was founded in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2016 and has since expanded into Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Hamby said they liked the concept and wanted to establish their own location in Greater Lansing.
After two years of preparation, the couple opened their franchise in East Lansing’s Hannah Plaza earlier this month, celebrating their grand opening on Tuesday (Jan. 13). Their store joins other Michigan locations in Escanaba and Saginaw, while a fourth in Novi is listed as “coming soon” on I Heart Mac & Cheese’s website.
“During COVID, when a lot of things shut down, people were trying to find some comfort food with all that chaos going on. This was when I started looking into franchises. With me being a veteran, this particular franchise was a little bit more affordable,” Hamby, a U.S. Navy veteran, said.
The new 1,700-square-foot space seats around 30, though Hamby said the concept is especially geared toward late-night takeout and delivery orders.
The most popular menu items are the mac and cheese bowls. Guests can order from chef-developed signature options, like buffalo and blue cheese, lobster and white truffle, chicken parmesan and short rib Philly, or select their own toppings. The franchise also offers an array of grilled cheese sandwiches and sides like mac and cheese bites, cheesy broccoli, tater tots and tomato soup.
“The food is baked right in front of you. By design, it’s something that you can just pick up and go,” Hamby said. “In that way, I kind of picked this place with our MSU student nurses in mind.”
Hamby and his wife have 18 employees, but they’re looking to hire more help. Overall, the pair is just appreciative that their dream has come to fruition.
“It feels like taking a big breath. We’ve spent the past year getting everything in progress, getting everything ordered. And now it’s like that light at the end of the tunnel is finally flickering at us,” Hamby said. “It’s so exciting that it’s finally here.”
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