The popular local Mexican restaurant Robertito’s will replace Chick-fil-A on the Fresno State campus this spring.

After Chick-Fil-A stopped operating at Fresno State last spring, the school conducted several studies to see what restaurant students wanted to see on campus.

“We brought in a consultant a year and a half ago,” said Deborah Adishian-Astone, administrator of Auxiliary Services. “We heard two concepts. One concept was Me-N-ed’s Pizza and the second was a local authentic Mexican concept.”

Me-N-Eds Pizza now operates in The Bucket at Fresno State.

To identify which was the right Mexican restaurant, Fresno State conducted a survey throughout the fall and shared that information with the food service advisory committee.

“The rankings showed the top five of what students want to see on campus,” Astone said. “Robertito’s was ranked in the top three that students want to see on campus. We got close to a thousand responses.”

After looking at the survey, Fresno State consulted with the top-ranked restaurants to see if they are interested in operating on campus.

“Through that process, Robertitos emerged as the restaurateur we chose to operate in the Chick-Fil-A location,” Astone said. “They will operate it themselves like Panda Express does. It’s not dining services that will operate it.”

Although there is no specific date, Astone expects Robertito’s to start operating at Fresno State after spring break.