KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Architecture seniors Frances Santos, left, and Nadia Pischanskq fill out their order slips at IQ in the Student Union Memorial Center yesterday afternoon.

Several UA students have found delight in the smoothies, wraps and other food items available at the new IQ Fresh restaurant, which opened in the Student Union Memorial Center last week.

IQ products, including water, juice and ready-made smoothies, were first available on campus in January 2003 and have been sold in the Canyon Café, U-Mart and the Bookend Café.

The restaurant replaced Louie's, a Philly cheesesteak restaurant that closed down on June 29, said David Galbraith, director of dining services for Arizona Student Unions.

"We had been working on the IQ project since the spring," Galbraith said. "We knew towards the end of the spring semester that Louie's was not going to make it. The sales just didn't hit the mark."

Though the original five smoothie recipes were conceptualized by Galbraith, he said UA business administration and marketing senior Laura Hosmer developed the names of the smoothies, as well as other smoothie recipes.

Nick Adamakis, marketing director of dining services for the union, and Galbraith approached art professor Jackson Boelts' senior graphic design class to patent a smoothie/juice product in fall 2002. In response, over 24 projects were submitted.

"It was the toughest process to come up with a winner because they were all so fabulous," Galbraith said.

Sophie Clarke, a graduate of the visual communications program, won the competition with her brand name "IQ Juice," which was later renamed "IQ Smoothies" when the first smoothie bar was opened in the Cactus Grill, located on the third floor of the union, in August 2003.

The new IQ Fresh, located in the union Food Court, is one of seven IQ venues on campus. Other locations include the Park Student Union and the Rec Center.

"I love it. I absolutely love it," said music education junior Erin Shillings. "It's new, it's good and it's exciting."

Shillings said she tried her first smoothie at the PSU outlet where she said there was no line.

When she went to the union's new IQ Fresh, she said she waited about 35 minutes to order and receive a smoothie and a chicken wrap. But Shillings said it was worth the wait because she appreciates the healthy alternative for lunch.

Other students, such as communications sophomore Megan Grace, regularly go to the IQ Fresh in the Cactus Grill.

"I come here a lot," Grace said. "I love it."

Though she has yet to try the new IQ Fresh, Grace said she has been ordering smoothies in the Cactus grill about three times a week since her freshman year and only waits about 10 minutes on average.

Greg McCarriston, a pre-business freshman, first went to the union's IQ Fresh Sunday afternoon.

"I was actually more impressed with the wraps than the smoothies," McCarriston said.

McCarriston said the PSU location is "good cause there's no line ever."

Though significantly less crowded than the union's IQ Fresh, the outlet at the PSU location does not offer wraps, salads or bagels.

"IQ Fresh meets students' needs and, in part, was developed in direct response to parents' requests for healthier food options in the union's Food Court," Adamakis said.

The IQ products, which are exclusively available at the UA. "The Arizona Student Unions marketing department developed the (IQ Fresh) concept in-house," Adamakis said.

"IQ has without a doubt shown the greatest growth and far surpassed any sales expectations," Galbraith said.