DePaul students now have a new food option at the Loop campus after the Tuesday opening of Beatrix Market.

Part of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Beatrix Market has presented the perfect mix of convenience and variety for DePaul students and staff. Directly across the street the DePaul Loop campus on East Jackson, Beatrix Market offers a salad bar, hot food bar, sandwiches, pizza by the slice, coffee and sweets. And, for those of drinking age, there is a bar.

“We want to be part of the neighborhood,” said Marc Jacobs, executive partner and divisional president of Beatrix Market.

Jacobs is the president and partner of popular spots around the Chicago area including Antico Posto, Ema, Beatrix, Foodlife and Mity Nice Bar & Grill, and he brings with him years of experience in the food industry. Plus, he has a close connection to DePaul, which he says is one of the reasons he chose this specific location.

“DePaul was a big part of that – the density of both students and workers in the neighborhood is tremendous,” said Jacobs, who has been an active member on the board for the DePaul School of Hospitality for over five years. “We are always looking for great talent in our business, and to be able to drive and pull from the school by being right here on campus was a great idea,” he said.

Although still relatively new to the Loop, Beatrix Market is already populated with DePaul students. Anthony Wong, an undergraduate finance major, was there Wednesday for the second time since Beatrix Market opened.

“It’s really convenient and I like the environment,” said Wong, who sat on the downstairs level with his laptop, textbooks and a plate of food taking up most of his table.

“I think I’ll be coming back here a lot more because the food is really good,” he said, motioning at his mostly eaten meal.

Rebecca Akli, a DePaul undergrad from the College of Computing and Digital Media, sat with a friend near the window as they ate pizza by the slice. “I love it here,” she said. Its proximity to her classes where she spends most of her days studying animation with a concentration in game art doesn’t hurt either. “I will definitely be back for this pizza by the slice,” Akli said.

The street level of Beatrix Market houses the trendy grab-and-go restaurant, filled mostly with its food and coffee bar, walls of premade snacks and meals, and some scattered seating for customers. But on the level below, accessible only by a wooden staircase in the corner, is a larger seating area and fully stocked bar, creating a very different ambiance from the busy market above.

“By being an all-day meeting place, we’re open for breakfast, lunch and everything in between, and we also have a little bit of that after-work and after-school vibe with the bar downstairs,” Jacobs said. “We’re hoping to capture all the meal periods and just be a place where people feel comfortable, love the food, the drink and the community.”