Chill Frozen Yogurt on Wydown Boulevard is the latest off-campus business to accept Bear Bucks, the program that allows Washington University students to charge purchases to their Campus Cards.

In the fall semester, Kayak’s Coffee and Bobo Noodle House began accepting Bear Bucks. Blueberry Hill soon followed.

Following the expansion’s early success, the directors of Bear Bucks began looking for a new off-campus vendor to add to the program. They referred back to a survey conducted last semester by Student Union regarding which businesses students would like to see accept Bear Bucks.

“We chose Chill because of the results of the survey,” Campus Card Services Manager Rachel Reinagel said. “It was very high on the list of vendors that the survey showed students wanted for the program.”

Reinagel added that Chill approached the Campus Card Office interested in joining the Bear Bucks program.

Chill Manager Bridget Murray explained that University students make up a huge part of its customer base. When she learned about the Bear Bucks program from some of her student employees, she saw it as an opportunity.

Murray said that another factor behind her interest in the program was a student-conducted market research project featuring a survey comparing Chill to FroYo, another frozen yogurt shop located on the Loop.

“One of the things they suggested to us after the survey had been conducted was that we look into the Campus Card,” Murray said. “Once we got the input from that student group, we started becoming more active with getting involved in the program.”

Murray added that one of the purposes of joining the program was to expand beyond the group of “regulars” that she sees at the shop and reach out to the larger student body.

After only about a week, Murray reported that Chill is already seeing positive results.

“It’s been a week or so now, and we’ve already noticed new people coming in with their Campus Card, and that was really our main goal,” Murray said. “We wanted them to see that we accept it, so that they’d be more open to giving us a try.”

Many students have responded enthusiastically to the news that the frozen yogurt shop will now be accepting Bear Bucks.

“My parents hate when I make small charges to my debit card,” sophomore Madeleine Parker said. “But now I can go to Chill whenever and not have to worry about my parents being annoyed with me.”

Junior Jamie Neiman expressed similar sentiments.

“I’m really excited that Chill accepts Bear Bucks now. Although I’m going to have to exercise some serious self-control to not be there every day,” she said.

Employees at other vendors said they have found success with the program as well. Bobo Noodle House Manager Paul Goodloe reported that the Bear Bucks program has contributed significantly to his business.

“It has definitely kept people coming in the door,” Goodloe said. “Especially on slow nights when other customers don’t want to go out, the University students are the ones we count on for business.”