Freebirds opens at Gateway
The first Freebirds World Burrito restaurant in California, aside from the original location in Santa Barbara, opens today on the corner of Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard, near University Gateway.
Burrito · A new Freebirds opens today in the University Gateway apartment complex on the corner of Figeuroa and Jefferson. - Jennifer Schultz | Daily Trojan
“Quite a while back, we started looking for California locations. One of the reasons we chose to come back to California is because the original Freebirds is at UCSB,” said Jeff Carl, chief marketing officer for Tavistock Freebirds. “We asked, ‘where would be a great site for that first return to California after being in Texas for 20 years,’ and found this location to be a natural fit.”
The restaurant held several kick-off events this week offering complimentary food and drinks to guests who made a $5 donation. The donations benefitted The Art of Elysium and Union Rescue Mission, respectively.
“We’ve seen an interesting balance of students, faculty and community members, and also employees from businesses around here, such as the bank and the car dealership across the street,” Carl said. “We’re interested in serving the entire community.”
This will be the first and only Freebirds to serve breakfast, including breakfast burritos, tacos, horchata, coffee and “crunchy tacos,” which are rolled in crumbled tortillas.
Freebirds opens at 6:30 a.m. on weekdays and 10:30 a.m. on weekends. It closes at 10:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 1:30 a.m. Thursday through Saturday and 9:30 p.m. on Sunday.