On any given day, USC Village teems with students talking, studying, and of course, eating. But a meal at one of the Village’s restaurants can set you back.
Bruxie offers things like chicken tenders and fried chicken and waffle sandwiches. And like many other places in the Village, it’s not cheap. A chicken sandwich at Bruxie with french fries and a beverage will cost you in the ballpark of $25.
Will Geare, a senior film production major, frequently visits the Village. He said that aside from his favorite ramen place, the food here is generally overpriced.
“I feel like most things are pretty overpriced in the village,” Geare said. “The ramen place is actually fairly affordable for the amount of food you get, but for the most part ... I can never get a full meal for like, under 20 bucks.”
Geare is ambivalent about the constant changes in the Village’s shops and restaurants. He appreciates the opportunity to try new places, but also finds it strange that establishments don’t last long. Bruxie, which had its soft opening this week, sits where a short-lived sandwich place opened just two years ago.
Bruxie co-founder and occasional chef, Kelly Mullarney, is optimistic. The company has 11 stores in California. Mullarney said the company wants to maintain reasonable prices, keeping in mind that the food is made from scratch.
“We really do try and keep the prices tampered down where it’s approachable for every year,” Mullarney said.
With one store in Westwood near the UCLA campus, he said the company is accustomed to college student customers.
“We’re sort of used to that student and that student budget, if it is, and also on the on the other side of that, that student adventurism to want to come try some new things,” he said.
But there have been perhaps too many new things in the Village. Gray Vasquez, a senior majoring in international relations and global business, said he’s noted a decline in restaurant quality and variety. As far as the high prices, he understands the cost implications of high rent. He said the prices and the offerings have kept him away.
“I feel like the restaurants closing and kind of coming and going is like, they’ve kind of given us a lot of just very bad restaurants or, like, restaurants that aren’t very appetizing to go to,” he said. “So I’ve kind of avoided it for the last year or so.”
Echoing Vasquez’s desire for good quality food is Anna Ng, a senior majoring in behavioral economics and psychology. She visits the Village to eat at least three times a week. She finds the food prices okay, but notes that the value is sometimes lacking.
“I think they’re reasonable, still a little bit, you know, on the higher end. However, I think in terms of value, only a few places might have the value, whereas other places are expensive and have, like, mediocre or bad food,” Ng said.
Gina Nguyen, a senior majoring in Russian, finds the cost of Village restaurant meals prohibitive. She opts for Trader Joe’s or Target.
“I used to get food a lot at the Village, maybe like sophomore year, but in more recent years, I haven’t, mostly because of affordability and options,” she said. “I kind of got bored of the food here.”
Bruxie’s Mullarney has been trying to work in or around USC since the company was founded in 2010.
“It wasn’t a big leap for us to want to be here now,” he said. “Overcoming some of the, you know, all the code regulations and everything else from everybody can kind of be challenging, but it’s certainly well worth it.”
The Daily Trojan spoke with Jim Dillavou, a consultant for USC Village and a principal for Paragon Commercial Group. He said the tenant turnover rate for the Village is lower than other projects in Los Angeles and not abnormal. He went on to say the company tries to predict and keep up with changes in the consumer behavior of USC Village’s target demographic — college students.
Jacob Stone, director of operations at Bruxie, isn’t concerned with the rate of restaurant turnover in USC Village.
“I do not have any concerns about the longevity,” he said, and that he believes it’s “the product of what we serve and the uniqueness of it that people enjoy.”
The restaurant plans a grand opening in early 2025.