Wells Fargo debuts food hall for uptown workers in latest upgrade to its tower

After working inside a Wells Fargo’s uptown skyscraper for almost two years, Janis High is happy to have a new food hall on the first floor of the same building.

“Working in uptown is really expensive,” she said. “One meal can cost you $20 and now I can get a good lunch here for $10 and it actually taste really good.”

She was one of a number of bank employees who stood in a long line around lunchtime on Wednesday for the grand opening of the food hall at 550 S. Tryon St.

The food hall is part of a five-year $500 million investment that the bank announced last year for improvements at uptown buildings and the Customer Information Center complex off W.T. Harris Boulevard in northeast Charlotte.

Wells Fargo used the money to pay for employee-focused improvements. This includes changes for employees on several floors that were once used by Duke Energy executives before Wells Fargo took over the building last year.

Construction for the Well Fargo food hall began in September. The space was previously used for locker rooms and business management offices. Wells Fargo officials were unable to provide stand-alone cost for the project.

During the celebration, High picked up a cheddar burger, potato chips and samosa, a fried Asian pastry. “I’m excited to try it,” she said about having a samosa for the first time ever.

What’s inside the food hall?

The 20,000-square-foot food hall includes a variety of options for employees including warm meals, a salad bar, sandwiches and breakfast options such as omelets.

Employees can use the Eatify app to pre-order meals if they want to spend less time in line. They can also dine in for breakfast or lunch at group or individual tables.

The food hall has an open-kitchen concept with several sections. One station allows guest restaurants to come in and serve for a day. Some of the recent choices were barbecue, Indian cuisine and sushi.

It also includes live cooking demonstrations for employees, which can also be viewed online. During the grand opening, chefs were mozzarella crafting.

Other changes at the Wells Fargo tower

Wells Fargo transformed about 100,000 square feet into employee amenity space at the building. The food hall is the “crown jewel” of upgrades, according to construction management manager Emily van Zyl and Valerie Goble, executive director of design and construction.

The goal is to have an employee-centric design, Goble said. It’s the reason they gave the best space at the top of the tower back to the employees. It has views of uptown with trees in the distance on the 46th, 47th and 48th floors of the building.

Some of the features multiple conference rooms, break spots, private work booths, a library space and micromarket with vending machines offering snacks and hot food options such as burgers and egg roles on the 10th floor.

Is the food hall open to the public?

The food hall is for employees only because of security reasons.

But members of the public can grab a cup of coffee from a stand on the first floor. It includes products from Haerfest (pronounced “harvest” from an Old English variant) Coffee Roasting Company, a local business. Haerfest provides jobs to people with disabilities.

More on Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is based in San Francisco but has its largest employment hub in Charlotte, with about 27,000 workers in the region. The bank employs over 247,000 people worldwide.

More than 15,000 employees work in uptown at several buildings now, according to Wells Fargo officials.