Campus Dining Today - Spring/Summer 2011

SPRING/SUMMER 2011

The Case for

Marketing

Investment in marketing is generating positive returns for collegiate dining programs.

page 57

T H E N AT I O N A L A S S O C I AT I O N O F C O L L E G E & U N I V E R S I T Y F O O D S E R V I C E S

also inside

• Simply Beautiful & Sweet Indulgences • 2011 NACUFS National Conference • Introduction to TUCO ...and much more!

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2011

CALENDAR OF EVENTS MAY 22

The biannual magazine of the National Association of College & University Food Services

NACUFS Member Reception ational Restaurant Association Show N Chicago, Ill.

23 NACUFS Interest Session,

“Sourcing Sustainable Seafood”

National Restaurant Association Show Chicago, Ill.

26

Editor in Chief Rachel A. Warner Acquisitions/Contributing Editor Donna Boss Contributing Editor Becky Nagy Editorial Assistant Julia Wendzinski

JU N E 5–10

Leadership Institute

6–11

Foodservice Management Institute

Editorial Board Kimberle Badinelli, Virginia Tech Merrill Collins, Connecticut College Janine Oberstadt, foodprint Jerry Waller, University of Wisconsin–River Falls Rachel A. Warner, NACUFS

13–18

Advertising Information and Article Submission Advertising of a product or service in this publication does not imply endorsement. Advertisers assume responsibility and liability for the content of any advertising.

The National Association of College & University Food Services is exempt from any liability resulting from publication of articles. Editorial mention of commercial interests is intended entirely as an information service to readers and should not be construed as an endorsement, actual or implied, by NACUFS. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of NACUFS. The number of mailings sent to each member institution is based on annual dues classification. There is an $85 charge for all additional mailings. An annual subscription to Campus Dining Today® is $60 for members and $75 for nonmembers. ©2011 The National Association of College & University Food Services. All rights reserved. No part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, which includes but is not limited to, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written consent of NACUFS. For advertising information, email advertising@nacufs.org or call (517) 332-2494.

Webinar: Food Cost Inflation

yson Foods World Headquarters T Springdale, Ark. ich’s Renaissance Center R Buffalo, N.Y.

Human Resources Institute chwan’s High Performance S Development Center Marshall, Minn.

25–30 Planning Institute

Basic American Foods

Portland, Ore.

JU LY

Pre-Conference: Neighborhood Market Retail Workshop

Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center 12–14

Grapevine, Texas

12–13

Pre-Conference: Purchasing Workshop

aylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center G Grapevine, Texas

13–16

ACUFS’ 53rd National Conference: N Reinvent Your Future aylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center G Grapevine, Texas

N OV E M BE R 3–6

Contract Administrators Symposium Charlotte, N.C.

D E C E M BE R 3–7

Customer Service Institute rue Manufacturing Headquarters and T The Ritz-Carlton St. Louis, Mo.

Event calendar is subject to change. For details and to view a full calendar of events, visit www.nacufs.org.

NACUFS BOARD OF DIRECTOR S President President-Elect Past President Secretary/Treasurer At-Large Director Northeast Region President Mid-Atlantic Region President Midwest Region President

Janet Paul Rice, Concordia College Nona Golledge, University of Kansas Samuel Bennett, Texas Tech University Rich Neumann, Ohio University Terry Waltersdorf, Faith Baptist Bible College Martin Dudek, College of the Holy Cross Timothy Dietzler, Villanova University Carol Petersen, University of Northern Iowa

Southern Region President Continental Region President Pacific Region President

2011 National Conference Chair Industry Advisory Council Chair Guest Director Executive Director

Kirk Rodriguez, Texas Tech University Lisa Gibson, Sanford Medical Center Bonnie Crouse, University of California–Santa Barbara Shirleta Benfield, University of Oklahoma Elisa Verhille Patty Eldred, University of Vermont Joseph Spina, NACUFS

F E AT U R E S

in this issue

38 Simply Beautiful and Sweet Indulgences Show-stopping desserts highlight the talents of collegiate pastry chefs and bakery staff.

43 2011 NACUFS National Conference

This year’s conference, held at the luxurious Gaylord Texan Resort, is sure to educate and inspire you to Reinvent Your Future.

52 Candidates for National Office 57 The Case for Marketing 58 Case Studies: Branding

Case studies illustrate how a thoughtful

and well-planned branding approach can lead to positive return on investment.

74

( Message) + (Media) x (Creativity) = Marketing Magic

Combining the right message with the right delivery method is key to reaching and engaging customers.

82

Successful Marketing on a Budget

NACUFS members share their budgetfriendly approaches to promoting their products and services.

38

The Case for

57

Marketing

92 Introduction to TUCO

Learn more about NACUFS’ new ally from “across the pond.”

96 NACUFS Financials

ON THE COVER: Photographer John Addis captures customers buzzing through Sparty’s, a C-store on the campus of Michigan State University. The recently rebranded C-store and coffee shop chain has seen a major increase in sales and customer satisfaction since its recent rebranding. Read the case study on page 66.

SPRING/SUMMER 2011

10 D E PA R T M E N T S 3 Calendar of Events 6 From the Editor 8 Leadership Agenda 10 Campus Dining by Design

Creativity and innovation shine in these featured campus dining renovations.

24 What’s Hot on Campus

Five colleges and universities are making their mark in unique ways.

43 54

24 34 Wellness and Nutrition

UConn’s Healthy Husky Program educates students about making better nutrition choices.

94 NACUFS Education: Marketing Institute

Participants share key takeaways from the 2010 Marketing Institute.

CORRECTIONS: Campus Dining Today strives to provide accurate journalism and fair reporting. It is our policy to correct substantive errors of fact. If you think we may have published incorrect information, please call (517) 332-2494 or email news@nacufs.org.

98 A Matter of Fact

Grab your smartphone to interact with this feature and learn a few things you may not know about collegiate dining.

FROM

A

E D I TO R

s someone who has spent her entire career in marketing and communications, I have to admit, I love the theme of this issue. Like a lot of my peers, I get excited about things that most people do not pay much attention to, like fonts, PMS colors, and changes to AP style. (I actually did a little dance in my office last year when AP made the change from “Web site” to “website” and I repeated the performance when they recently removed the hyphen from “email.”) But the reason that I and other professional communicators get so excited about these seemingly insignificant things is that they, when used appropriately as a part of a thoughtful marketing strategy, can have a profound effect on an organization’s brand.

T H E F R O M C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

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the editor

RACHEL A. WARNER

You may notice this issue of Campus Dining Today looks a little different from previous issues. The redesign of the magazine is part of a larger brand revitalization that NACUFS has gone through this past year that has included the redesign of most of the association’s communications, including a major overhaul of the NACUFS website. These changes result from a comprehensive marketing plan the board of directors approved last July—a marketing plan that was developed over nine months of hard work by a multi-faceted project team that included association staff, the marketing committee, “...the bottom line is that and representatives from other national committees.

Editor in Chief Campus Dining Today

marketing—well-researched

The team looked at the association’s envisioned future, to be the premier higher education association, as a very and well-executed—works.” achievable goal. We looked for strategies and tactics that would not simply bring the association up-to-date in terms of its marketing and brand image, but position NACUFS at the proverbial head of the class. With this lofty goal in mind and a collaborative integrated marketing communications effort, we developed a set of strategies and tactics that would be inclusive of all facets of the organization, and reach each of our target audiences with a unified message across a variety of media.

The marketing and communications plan was designed to move forward alongside the association’s strategic plan, focusing on tactical implementation for 2010 and 2011, and evaluation and refinement for 2012-2014. Only time will tell if we are successful, but the feedback we have gotten so far has been positive. I have no doubt the efforts we are making will produce a return on investment and improve our brand equity.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees the value in marketing and communications, and it is often the first victim when budgets need to be cut. But the bottom line is that marketing—well-researched and well-executed—works. This is evidenced by the many case studies contained within this issue, which range from large rebranding campaigns to smaller scale, more budget-friendly projects. Regardless of what your goals are, from increasing sales to simply raising awareness on a particular issue, you will find an idea or two on the following pages that you can use on your campus.

Finally, here’s a marketing pitch from me: if you are looking for help or ideas on a particular issue, I encourage you to utilize the new eCommunity on the NACUFS website. This feature, a result of the new marketing plan, will help connect you with your association colleagues—many of whom are facing the same challenges you are—to ask questions, solicit feedback, and share resources. I look forward to the conversations. u

Rachel A. Warner

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LEADERSHIP

“Marketing is the devil.” ~ Billy Bob Thornton

AG E N DA L E A D E R S H I P C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

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agenda

A

s collegiate foodservice professionals, many of our workplace activities involve marketing and communications, whether we are selling meal plans, creating new concepts, implementing policies and procedures, or promoting our own expertise and knowledge. Though we don’t know exactly what Billy Bob meant in the quote cited above, there’s no question that falling behind in marketing or communications in any area of our operations can also leave us falling short on the bottom line. As you pore over the pages in this issue, you will find a wealth of information to help you overcome marketing and communication hurdles and enhance your department’s financial situation.

Marketing also helps NACUFS remain the primary resource for campus dining professionals. Marketing doesn’t improve an existing product, but it can extol NACUFS President the benefits of an already excellent one. NACUFS’ new marketing and communication plan is comprehensive and promotes the value of membership, our many print and electronic “Although our fiscal outlook is resources, the national conference, and our exceptional education programs. Marketing tells the story of what the promising, our greatest resource association delivers, and we deliver an exceptional value for our members.

JANET PAUL RICE

is undoubtedly our volunteers.”

One of the strongest points in our story is that NACUFS is in a solid financial position. Our investment portfolio is healthy and posted a better-than-benchmark return in 2010. Our reserves have been replenished and are adequate to cover up to one year’s operating expenses in the event of another financial crisis. In response, the board of directors voted to utilize our strong financial position to benefit a broad cross-section of members by reducing this year’s national conference registration fee by 28 percent, increasing the travel stipend for institute attendees from $400 to $600, and creating 40 travel grants to be awarded to members who have not recently attended the national conference.

Although our fiscal outlook is promising, our greatest resource is undoubtedly our volunteers. I believed this before I took office as president last July, yet I was still a bit worried that it would be difficult to find participants for committee and project team appointments. My worry was completely unwarranted. I have been overwhelmed by the spirit of volunteerism that prevails in the association.

People have been incredibly generous in giving their time and are willing to help with whatever is needed to keep this organization vibrant and pertinent. Our committees, project teams, conference committees, regional councils, the association staff, and the board of directors have been working diligently all year to make NACUFS better and stronger.

I’m pleased to report that the regional conferences were a resounding success, and we are looking forward to what is sure to be a fabulous national conference in July, themed “Reinvent Your Future.”

I encourage you to take full advantage of this extraordinary association and continue to participate in our regional and national education programs.

NACUFS is in an enviable position, both financially and in terms of volunteer enthusiasm and involvement. This year as president has reminded me why I became involved in the first place: NACUFS provides first-rate, relevant education and an invaluable peer network. It has been a privilege to serve as president, and I look forward to participating in many other ways in the future. Thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity! u

Janet Paul Rice

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by design

CAMPUS DINING

B Y

D E S I G N

PANTHER DINING HALL AND PANTHER GROCERY at Florida Tech–Melbourne

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E

Photos courtesy of FIT Dining Services

nrollment at Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) was 1,732 in 1973 when the all-you-care-toeat Evans Dining Hall opened with 10,000 square feet of kitchen, servery and dining. Since then, the number of students attending the Melbourne campus has grown to 3,587, and the university recently invested $8.8 million, including $1.8 million for equipment, to add the Panther Dining Hall and Panther Grocery.

The new 26,400-square-foot facility opened in 2011 and has served more than 50,000 diners and customers.

“The opening of the Panther Dining Hall and Panther Grocery offers the entire campus community a greater variety of foods in a comfortable, state-ofthe-art facility,” says Tom Stewart, director of dining services at FIT. Panther Dining Hall is a board operation, but it is open to all dining customers for a one-price entry fee for all-you-care-to-eat. Panther Grocery is an à la carte retail operation.

Of the servery and seating areas (398 interior seats and 96 exterior seats on covered patios), Greg Tsark, assistant vice president of facilities planning and university architect at FIT, explains, “The conceptual design of the building provided a connection of the exterior and interior environments with the large windows providing natural light.” Handset brick masonry was used to give the facility an appearance that is consistent with other locations on campus.

Above: In the seating area, large windows bring in natural light, reducing the need for artificial lighting. Digital signage features daily offerings, specials, campus news, and general information.

Panther Dining Hall features several stations, including: international/vegan/ vegetarian, preparing some items on a wok range; pizza and flatbreads, baking from a stone oven; pasta bar, serving a variety of pasta and noodles; homestyle, featuring a rotisserie offering fresh meat, fish, or poultry with a side; grille, offering comfort foods; made-to-order salad; soup & deli; dessert; and salad bar. Panther Dining Hall is open from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Panther Grocery is attached to Panther Dining Hall. This full-line grocery and grab-and-go operation offers pre-packaged dry goods, fresh vegetables and fruits, snacks, sundries, fresh meats and cheeses, grab-and-go salads, made-to-order sandwiches, grilled comfort foods (hamburgers, hotdogs, and fries), and grab-and-go hot entrée meals (roasted chicken, pork, fish, and red meats with sides). The store also has an electronic catalog of over 800 items. Panther Grocery operates from 7:00 a.m.

B Y

D E S I G N

Sustainability is a primary objective of the new facilities; a trayless program has been effective in conserving water and reducing food waste.

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The salad station is a popular self-service option for students.

to 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

B Y

D E S I G N

The fully-appointed kitchen has a full-service bakery, defined cold and hot food preparation areas, and a high-intensity, automatic soak sink for pots and pans.

C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

12 Students help themselves at several stations and receive made-to order items at others, which helps control labor costs.

Sustainability is a primary objective of the new facilities; a trayless program has been effective in conserving water and reducing food waste. The building has a pulper in kitchen’s warewashing room to collect food waste; energy-efficient lighting; energy-conserving building controls (HVAC and auto-exhaust hoods); and chilled water service from an efficient, state-of-the-art central plant. Located on the site of a previous surface parking lot, the facility was designed to maximize daylighting elements; reduce heatisland effects by using roofing material with a high solar reflectance index; and conserve water with low-flow public restroom fixtures.

The design team included: Greg Tsark, AIA, LEEDAP, assistant vice president for facilities planning and university architect, FIT; Robert Darby, project manager, Gateway Development Services, Inc.; Michael Williams, Jr., LEED AP, project manager, MH Williams Construction Group, Inc.; Michael Davis, RA, NCARB, architect, HADP Architecture, Inc.; Curtis Casciano, CSFP, project manager, Clark Foodservice Equipment; Robert Ghiotto, project manager, FIT; Greg Graham, assistant vice president of business & retail operations, FIT; Tom Stewart, director of dining services, FIT; Jon Skoviera, chef de cuisine, FIT; Dawn Lacy, associate director of dining services, FIT; Porter Khouw Consulting, Inc., project consultants. u

While students dine, they can hang their skateboards on a wall inside the dining room.

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by design

CAMPUS DINING

INNOVATION CAFÉ at North Carolina State’s Centennial Campus D E S I G N

Graphics courtesy of NC State University

T

B Y

his spring, North Carolina State University’s (NCSU) dining services opened a full-scale food court on NCSU’s Centennial Campus near the biomanufacturing training and education center.

The 3,000-square-foot facility, a modular, temporary unit, is designed to help bridge a gap between the present need for foodservice in this part of campus and the opening of a permanent dining space that will be part of a student apartment complex planned for this area by 2014. The permanent space will feature 15,000 square feet of dining services.

The food court, named Innovation Café, features a Chick-fil-A and stations with a two-week rotating menu of freshly prepared food, including a salad bar, deli, pasta, and stir-fry, and grab-and-go items. An indoor seating area will accommodate 225 persons with additional seating for 60 in the outdoor area.

The name was selected following a contest held throughout Centennial Campus in early December.

Innovation Café was selected by Randy Lait, senior director of hospitality services, from more than 150 entries. The winning name was submitted by Xiaoming Feng, executive consulting engineer at ABB Inc. Established in 1987 as an addition to the main campus, which is about a mile away, NCSU’s Centennial Campus consists of a mix of researchers, students, faculty, and public/private tenants. “It was crucial to the continued success of Centennial Campus that we provide significant foodservice to an underserved part of the campus while the permanent facility is designed and constructed,” says Lait.

The only operations serving the 8,000 faculty, staff, students, and employees of NCSU’s corporate partners were two C-stores/cafes and two Port City Java ng eni y coffeehouse/cafes (self-op).

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“We considered several options for the food court and decided on a modular unit,” says Kitty Lewis, director of retail operations. “It cost less than a traditional facility, is easier to heat and cool, and we can outfit it with a pleasing decor. Bidders had to have at least three years of modular kitchen experience. And, to ensure the project was executed as smoothly as possible, we secured the assistance of a sub-contractor to ensure necessary permits were secured in a timely manner.”

The facility operates Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. u Material for this article was submitted by Jennifer Gilmore, marketing/communication, Campus Enterprises, North Carolina State University.

T

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by design

CAMPUS DINING

B Y

D E S I G N

DESIGNING ON A DIME at Cornell University

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Photos by Paula Amols Assistant Director, Cornell Dining A NEW BEVERAGE COUNTER A new beverage counter at Hughes Dining was created by purchasing two stainless steel work tables with wood tops (an option available from the manufacturer).

Cornell’s carpenter shop wrapped the edges in front and on the ends to match what was used to re-face the rest of the cabinetry in the space, including the wood soffits above. “This looks like a high-end custom cabinet,” Amols says.

A NEW DISPLAY COUNTER A similar creation was made at the Rojo Grande station in the Ivy Room. Amols removed a refrigerated display case and in its place put in this work table, which is a stainless steel table wrapped in a wood finish to match the rest of the station cabinetry.

A REPLACEMENT CABINET For a cabinet in Trillium Express, Amols needed something that would match the new program and design. To make the change, one portion of the existing cabinet was painted and fitted with an inexpensive new countertop to replace the old one.

A

t Cornell, the dining services team has been part of several large renovations over the years. But how to make changes with small expenditures? On these pages, you’ll find several adjustments that Paula Amols, assistant director of Cornell Dining, and her staff made that allowed them to refurbish on a budget.

D E S I G N B Y

REMODELING SEATING In the Ivy Room, Cornell’s student union building, the picnic-style tables were very old, but part of the facility’s traditional design; however, they weren’t very efficient for seating. “Rather than get rid of them completely—which, frankly, would have been a very hard sell!—we worked out a compromise that met with the approval of the dean of students, university architect, and the student programming board for the building,” Amols says. “We removed the attached bench seating and trimmed and refinished the overhanging ends of the tables. That allowed us to separate the tables, open up some aisle space for better traffic, and put chairs at the tables.” The leftover bench wood was recycled for use in other projects.

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A REFURBISHED REFRIGERATED DELI CASE This refrigerated deli case was no longer working properly to regulate the temperature. “We wanted to maintain the display look and style of this type of case,” Amols says. “So for about half the cost and time of purchasing a new display case with custom finishes to match the rest of the space, we removed the refrigeration system, had our sheet metal shop build up and reinforce the shelf inside the case, and installed a simple refrigerated drop-in cold pan unit. Works perfectly!” u

by design

CAMPUS DINING

B Y

D E S I G N

PINES at the University of California–San Diego

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Photos by Dave Decaro, HDH Marketing

I

n September 2010, the $8 million, 26,000-square-foot renovation of 40-year-old Pines at the University of California–San Diego was revealed to students, faculty, and staff. Although the exterior of the building remains untouched, renovation of the interior facilities was necessary to support the customer demand at this central venue. The project accomplished structural, sustainability, and equipment updates needed to provide a facility that offered beautiful form supporting full functionality.

Pines, a board operation with retail pricing (not an all-youcare-to-eat system), serves 1,100 residents in the immediate west-side neighborhood and is open Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Nearby are four adjacent buildings of John Muir College housing classrooms, lecture halls, faculty research facilities, faculty offices, and staff offices. The entire university enrolls 20,000 undergraduates with approximately 9,645 on a meal plan.

Pines’ seating includes 254 seats for interior dining, 40 exterior balcony seats (perfect for people watching), 40 side patio seats, and 168 exterior seats in a nearby quad and courtyard. Designers utilized the existing architecture’s separate-yet-connected spaces to create a diverse but unified theme by placing high-definition black and white Serpentine shapes and warm colors emphasize a natural photography across entire wall spaces. The three sections environment concept that is seen throughout the campus. are enclosed in images of a canyon of boulders, rolling grassy hills, or a forest, and each area has a central table decorated with an embedded print and glasswork that coordinate with the walls. The central dining space under the high, bell-tower-like ceiling is dominated by a curving booth under a large, artistic chandelier. Thought-provoking messages placed above the modern lighting fixtures framing the bottom edge of the tapering walls add interest and color.

The facility is staffed with four managers, a sous chef, three senior cooks, two senior storekeepers, six lead foodservice workers, 18 foodservice workers, and 117 student employees.

The marketplace-style servery has several themes: • Monarch Divide, a combination platform, features a sushi bar with pre-made and made-to-order rolls on one side. The other side offers a six-induction burner action station with a rotating cycle of made-to-order specials, such as morning breakfast scrambles, Asian stir-fry entrées, taco Tuesdays, fajita Fridays, tostada specials, and pastas. Made-to-order desserts are offered in the evenings.

• 3 Rivers offers fountain beverages, local and fair-trade coffees, and juice selections.

• Tuolumne Meadows is a front-of-house cold-production location with clear reach-in doors in units for displaying fresh produce. A self-service, refrigerated unit doubles as a parfait/fruit bar for breakfast and a build-your-own salad and pre-made specialty salad bar for lunch and dinner.

To the right of the salad selections, guests find a full-service station with a menu that rotates from specialty salads and wraps to hot, hand-carved protein options. A built-in carving station contributes to the intrigue.

• Quinn Peak, a combination hot entrée self-serve space and triple-stacked conveyor oven platform, rotates a variety of options, including open-faced sandwiches to order, a baked potato bar, distinct baked pasta/casserole entrees, specialty pizzas with crusts rolled out on a dough press, breakfast tostada cups, and a noodle bar.

Key sustainability components include: a demand ventilation system; Energy Star-rated appliances; a food waste pulper; water-saving elements, such as water fixtures with electronic sensors and aerators; and natural lighting. The facility is currently being evaluated for LEED Gold certification, which is expected to be confirmed this summer.

“We’re extremely pleased with the new Pines,” says Steve Casad, director of dining, retail, and conference services. “The student population is spending more than 50 percent of their meal points in our retail markets. This shift in point usage affected the design of Pines. Station design moved the FTEs from the back of the house to the front, production and service are combined, and this ability to multi-task maximizes FTE labor and addresses the growing labor percentages in our residential dining program.”

Food displayed on hot surfaces set into the stainless steel at Buckeye Flats is replenished continuously so students know it is fresh. White countertops made of recycled glass and concrete have the feel of granite and are easy to clean. Daily menus on digital displays are seen from most stations.

The design team included: Ralph Dauphin, foodservice coordinator, UCSD; Tom Clarke, dining project manager, UCSD; Steven D. Casad, director of dining, retail, and conference services, UCSD; Mark Cunningham, director of housing, dining and hospitality, UCSD; David Gardinier, chef, UCSD; Thomas Machado, associate director of information technology, UCSD; Architects | Delawie, Wilkes, Rodrigues, Barker: Michael Wilkes, principal in charge, William J. Rindone, project manager, and Alan Nations, architect; Mike Dyekman, food service consultant, Webb Design; RENO Contracting; and Joel King, principal architect, UCSD. u

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The support kitchen is equipped with two double-stacked convection ovens, a six-top range, charbroiler, combi-oven, tilt skillet, three steam kettles, a walk-in freezer, and two walk-in refrigerators.

The multi-purpose walk-in has clear, reach-in doors, and access from front-of-house cold production space allows all the fresh produce in the walk-in to be put on display. Staff in the front-of-house has easy access for restocking salad bars or prepping produce.

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The design team avoided platforms that were limited to standard, recurring menu items, so all platforms were designed to incorporate the full potential of the equipment at hand. Therefore, the menu rotates on a four-week cycle incorporating a range of comfort, specialty, and ethnic foods at every platform.

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•B uckeye Flat is a cook line with a charbroiler, three-bank fryer, range, bain-marie, and flattop griddle island on display featuring daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner specials. A full chophouse menu is incorporated into nightly specials.

• Wanda’s Desserts offers specialty desserts and breakfast pastries.

• A full island station is used at breakfast for waffles, a bagel bar, and hot cereal; it converts into a station with soup, chili, and toppings for lunch and dinner.

by design

CAMPUS DINING BAUCCIO COMMONS at University of Portland D E S I G N

Photos courtesy of Bon Appétit Management Company; photography by Jeff Zaruba

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he Commons at the University of Portland has served students, faculty, priests, and staff for nearly 60 years. Over time, the Commons was pushed to capacity as the university’s population continuously grew; in 1992 the university housed 795 residents and by 2010 there were 1,793 residents.

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Stations in Bauccio Commons use display cases throughout the space to present the freshly prepared food.

Wood, food graphics, and the earth-toned color palette convey the emphasis on sustainability.

Today, space in the Commons is no longer an issue. The renovated main dining hall at University of Portland opened in the fall of 2010, and the 20,000-square-foot project has brought a new level of sustainable food and design to the university.

Bon Appétit Management Company has been the food provider since 1992, and the renovated facility was renamed Bauccio Commons in honor of alumnus Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appétit’s founder and CEO. Bauccio started his career washing dishes and peeling vegetables in the Commons when he was a student.

“The new facility re-imagines an existing dining hall whose operational model—a single-source buffet line at the edge of the room—had diverged from current dining trends,” says Jennifer Johanson, CEO of EDG Interior Architecture + Design of San Rafael, Calif. “We took a light hand in the renovations, stripping away layers that had been added over the years, and emphasized the grand vaulted space with free-standing service elements. New functional service elements divide the formerly undifferentiated space into areas for dining, food preparation, lounging, and studying.”

The stations are crafted from recycled, natural materials and feature environmental graphics celebrating local and seasonal products from the Pacific Northwest. New lighting warms the room, highlights food, seating, and circulation, and creates a lively ambience that is more akin to a restaurant than an institution. A mix of seating groups, including booths, banquettes, high community tables, and picnic tables made from locally sourced walnut, gives students several seating options while promoting a communal dining experience.

A fireplace lounge with low seating remains open late into the night, offering students A fireplace lounge that looks out to the lush outdoors encourages students to study and a place to congregate for socialize throughout the day and evening. conversation and study. A color palette rich with wood tones and hints of deep red and green contributes to creating a timeless, comfortable space. Oregon-inspired graphics embedded in tabletops, wall coverings, and glass divider walls enhance the location-inspired ambiance.

In keeping with Bon Appétit’s commitment to decreasing the environmental footprint of its food and facilities, EDG used recycled and sustainable materials and repurposed as much as possible from

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Bon Appétit emphasizes sustainability in its purchasing and production practices. For example, it tries to buy food within a 150-mile radius of the university. It uses eggs produced in a cage-free environment and won’t use meat from chickens or turkeys fed non-therapeutic antibiotics.

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The renovation added 14,000 square feet to the facility. Food and cooking now take center stage in this marketplacestyle concept.

Interactive food stations serving freshly prepared and made-to-order food concepts include a pizzeria, a sushi bar, taqueria, pasteria, grill, carvery, salad bar, deli, and coffee bar.

the original buildings. Environmental graphics printed on bio-boards made from recycled materials ask students to dispose responsibly.

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Together, Bon Appétit and EDG are working to create warm and inviting eating experiences for students while strengthening the environmental sustainability of college campuses nationwide.

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22 Recycling is promoted with colorful graphics, and specific areas are designated for various types of recycling.

This new design also provides new opportunities to expand Bon Appétit’s commitment to preparing food from scratch using fresh and organic ingredients.

Bauccio Commons today serves such savory pleasures as hand-tossed pizza, line-caught salmon grilled to order, hand-rolled sushi made with sustainably caught seafood, locally sourced tortillas, and espresso.

Key people on the project team from Bon Appétit include: Sam Currie, district manager; Kirk Mustain, general manager; James Green, executive chef. From EDG Interior Architecture + Design: Jennifer Johanson, AIA, IIDA, LEED AP, CEO; Nancy Kalter-Dills, AIA, LEED AP, project manager and principal, vice president of operations; Yoko Ishihara, senior designer; Akiko Hrovat, designer; Shawna Jacoby, job captain. Architect of record: Soderstrom Architects, Portland, Ore. u

Adjacent to the marketplace, the fireplace lounge invites students to relax throughout the day and evening. Dramatic lighting throughout the facility contributes to the lively atmosphere.

Various configurations of seating provide options for students, faculty and staff. Communal tables are increasingly popular.

Floor-to-ceiling windows bring in natural light.

by design

CAMPUS DINING

“Our intent in redesigning the seating area is to turn The Overlook into an anchor at the south end of campus,” says Russ Meyer, University of Nevada, Reno’s associate director of housing operations and dining services. “We want it to become a gathering place that offers a distinctly different experience than the union on the other side of campus.”

He credits the inspiration to create an experience to ideas conveyed by Joseph Pine, author of “The Experience Economy.”

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The Overlook sits on the south side of the second floor of the Jot Travis Building and overlooks Manzanita Lake.

The retail food court and its adjacent kitchen, which were renovated four years ago, feature Mondo Subs, Smashers Grille, Second City Pizza, Mandalay Express, and Freshens Smoothies. The facility serves about 1,200 customers per day.

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An artistic rendering of The Overlook depicts the columns and view over the lake. Graphic courtesy of Mojra Hauenstein, architect, NCARB, LEED AP ND, Arka Blue, Inc.

Meyer and his team also wanted to incorporate a sustainable theme. “We have about 170 feet of windows, so we put in three-foot light shelves at each window, which are about eight feet off the floor,” Meyer says. “Light comes in, hits the shelf, bounces off the reflective ceiling, and drops down.

This combined with LED lighting cuts down our energy consumption.”

Soffits in the building’s columns are designed to look like trees. Each contains a slogan, such as “Each person uses 350 gallons of water a day,” which raises customers’ awareness of sustainability.

On one side of the room is a large, projected internet screen. “Students can stand at the wall and check their emails, Facebook, and other sites, and write on the wall,” Meyer says. “It’s like a huge interactive iPad.” In addition, each table along the perimeter contains electrical outlets so students can plug in their laptops or charge their electric devices. The space contains wireless connectivity.

Another wall projects the daily campus newspaper. Students stand in front of the screen and flip pages by waving their hand across the wall, similar to turning pages on tablet computer or ereader and like the information displays seen on high-tech television shows.

Another interactive screen wall is simply for having fun. A sensor allows students to move projected animals, such as squirrels, around in circles or to the right or left with their hand movements.

“We want customers to feel that they can hang out, enjoy the experience of dining, and have a good time,” Meyer says. u

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ustomers dining at The Overlook on the University of Nevada, Reno campus are invited to a unique experience. The Overlook’s newly renovated seating area is designed to engage customers’ senses and allow them to interact with their environment and one another.

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UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO Integrates Tech, Sustainability at The Overlook

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UMASS–AMHERST Creates the First Permaculture Garden On A Public University Campus

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hat is “local” for purchasing products for sustainability initiatives? 50 miles? 500 miles? 15 feet? The University of Massachusetts (UMass)–Amherst is redefining the term local with the implementation of a sustainable permaculture garden.

Located on a quarter-acre plot adjacent to Franklin Dining Commons, the UMass Permaculture Garden is the first student-led permaculture garden on a public university campus in the nation that supplies food directly to its campus dining services.

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The garden is entering its first growing season this spring and is expected to produce more than 1,000 pounds of vegetables annually.

It complements the school’s policy of using local produce, currently 25 percent of all food, for meals served in campus dining halls.

What is Permaculture?

Above: UMass environmental science student Rachel Dutton uses a digging fork to aerate the existing soil.

This reduces compaction and allows for healthier, stronger, plant growth.

Photo by Will Szal.

Right: UMass environmental design student Samantha Todisco layers three inches of compost (produced from campus food waste and equestrian farm by-products) onto the existing grass lawn.

Photo by Shaina Mishkin.

Permaculture is a merger of the words permanent and agriculture, and the concept was created to help solve the environmental issues associated with modern agriculture. Its approach is simple: to design sustainable human settlements based on ecological principles that restore and renew natural systems. Permaculture gardens are intentionally designed to require minimal long-term maintenance and provide an abundance of food and resources.

The initial idea for the permaculture garden started as a studentled initiative in a sustainable agriculture class led by UMass Professor John Gerber. The group of students approached Ken Toong, executive director of auxiliary enterprises at UMass, with the idea that the garden would be a beneficial addition to the already existing sustainability efforts on campus.

Phase I

During the fall of 2010, after receiving the final go-ahead from the university, UMass hired Ryan Harb, a certified permaculture designer and UMass alum, as their sustainability specialist and began laying the foundation steps for the garden. Soon after, Harb created the UMass permaculture planning committee, which is composed of 12 undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines.

Eager to spread the word about its idea and gain support for the venture, the committee began developing a Facebook page and Wordpress blog to get the word out and encourage student involvement. When planning the phases of the garden, the permaculture planning committee searched for a way to create a closed-loop system for gathering the raw materials needed for the garden directly from other sources on campus, and they found solutions in the campus community. The compost came from their office of waste management, the cardboard from dining services, the newspapers from the campus news office, and the wood chips from fallen trees and branches.

The garden is expected to have many shortand long-term benefits, ranging from serving as an educational site about sustainable efforts taking place on campus to eventually creating jobs and a surplus of food for the campus community. “What UMass-Amherst is trying to do, besides grow food for the campus community, is raise awareness about what’s involved in permaculture and educate others about really healthy ways of growing food,” Harb says.

For the UMass-Amherst campus, the permaculture garden serves as an example of what one big idea, a lot of recycled newspaper, cardboard, and food waste, and a supportive community can accomplish in an ongoing effort to make our Earth a more sustainable and healthier place to live. u

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Phases II & III

Phases two and three of the garden include a campus design charrette (workshop) and a community planting day. The goal of the charrette is to encourage collaboration among students, faculty, administration, and outside community members and bring together diverse perspectives to continue the transformation of the quarter-acre lot into a model campus permaculture garden. The actual planting commenced in April 2011.

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The committee members’ goal was ambitious; they had to move more than 250,000 pounds of organic matter—by hand, using no fossil fuels— and complete the sheet mulching in less than one month’s time. While daunting, with help of more than 150 volunteers from the campus and local area, including Amherst Regional High School and Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization, the initial phase of the garden was completed.

Overhead view of the Franklin Dining Commons Permaculture Garden during Phase I, sheet mulching. Cardboard is placed on top of the compost for weed control, and it is covered with a mulch layer, in this case, recycled campus wood chips.

Photo by Will Szal.

Soil amendments (minerals including phosphorous, calcium, potassium and other trace minerals) are added to the compost for additional soil remediation. Photo

by Will Szal.

UMass environmental science student Meg Little adds wood chips to act as the top mulch layer.

Photo by Shaina Mishkin.

– Written by Ryan Harb, certified permaculture designer and UMass alum

A close-up view of sheet mulching.

Photo by Will Szal.

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In October 2010, the committee, with help from student and local volunteers, embarked on the arduous mission to transform the otherwise unproductive grass lot in front of Franklin Dining Commons into a highly productive, aesthetically pleasing, educational, sustainable garden.

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UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC Rolls Out e.a.t Food Truck

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ood trucks are becoming more popular on college campuses as an addition to traditional auxiliary dining outlets. When the south side of campus at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. needed to expand its dining options, a truck was selected because it offers more fresh food than a kiosk.

“The food is prepared on the truck and served to customers immediately, rather than making it in a commissary and transporting it to the south side of campus,” says Sia Mohsenzadegan, the general manager for Bon Appétit Management Company’s Stockton campus operations. Bon Appétit is the university’s foodservice provider.

The truck is named e.a.t. (easy artisan takeout) and is furnished with a grill and counters. Open for breakfast and lunch during the week, e.a.t’s menu is unique on campus and includes daily specials and seasonal items. Offerings include a variety of gourmet foods, from breakfast sandwiches to smoked brisket.

“We are hoping that the food truck will make life a little easier on those students who have back-toback classes on the south campus,” Mohsenzadegan says. “It’s nearly two-thirds of a mile from the arts buildings to the DUC, and trying to walk, skateboard, or even bicycle that distance, buy food, and then make it back in time for the next class is a challenge.”

Four staff members work at the truck, and Mohsenzadegan projects about 280 to 800 transactions per day. Students will be able to use their dining points, credit cards, debit cards, and cash. To view a full menu, see www.sustainablediningatpacific.com/e.a.t./index.html.

The dining department is using social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter to promote e.a.t. to the students and encouraging sales through downloadable coupons.

The department also is working with the school’s art design classes to develop other modes of advertising for the truck.

The food truck was built during the summer, and Bon Appétit held a design contest for the truck’s exterior artwork. Students voted for their favorite design, and the winner was Pacific student Aaron Davis, who received a $1,000 scholarship. u

The food truck, e.a.t., offers new and unique dining options to students on the south side of campus. Photo courtesy of University of the Pacific.

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EMORY UNIVERSITY Sets World Record for Longest Taco Line

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n event to raise the awareness of Emory University’s 23,000 faculty members and staff and more than 13,000 students about the importance of sustainable seafood and produce set a new Guinness world record. In February, students and staff from Emory Dining’s Green Team assembled 260 tacos end-to-end in a line that stretched nearly 121 feet long. The tacos, made from 12-inch flour tortillas, were filled with 80 pounds of sustainable cod fish fillets, 45 pounds of green cabbage salad, and five gallons of salsa verde. (A video of the line assembly is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvLYxI4obgE.) Within 15 minutes, all 260 tacos were devoured.

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on campus

To the sound of a steel drum, Emory dining services chefs worked with students as they prepared the 260 tacos.

“We started the event by providing an educational opportunity for the students that included a discussion with a panel of sustainability experts and a film screening of ‘The End of the Line’,“ says Patty Ziegenhorn, senior director, university food services administration. “We culminated the event with building the taco line and then, of course, eating it. This was a completely green event, and every taco was eaten. These types of events fit very nicely with our sustainability goals, in which 75 percent of our purchases will be local and sustainable by 2015. Our purchasing standards for seafood are buying from sources that meet the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch standards and can

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Photos courtesy of Emory University.

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Above: The tacos were made from 12-inch flour tortillas and filled with 80 pounds of sustainable cod fish fillets, 45 pounds of green cabbage salad, and five pounds of salsa verde.

Right: Patty Ziegenhorn and the taco team precisely measured the tacos to ensure that they would exceed the standing Guinness world record for the longest line of tacos. document responsible sustainable fishing standards, such as the state of Alaska’s fishing industry guidelines.”

Emphasizing the importance of this event as an education tool, Julie Shaffer, Emory’s sustainable food educator, says, “A lot of big industrial fisheries have overfished species to the point of extinction.

We don’t want to lose species and must protect biodiversities of species that are small in number.”

Event participants are proud of the university’s achievement, and they plan to respond if someone else tries to break their Guinness world record. One student promised, “We’ll do it all over again.” u

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WHAT’S HOT

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ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE and Partners Dive Into Food Waste Recycling

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ood waste recycling is high on the list of sustainability initiatives at Elizabethtown College, so when a manufacturer approached staff about testing a new pulper system, Eric Turzai, director of dining services, agreed. Through a partnership with the manufacturer and a local farmer, the college’s new system is producing substantial results turning plate waste into energy, bedding material, and fertilizer.

The system has also helped them reach dining services’ goal of reducing organic waste and decreasing water consumption in the dining hall. Students place their trays on a revolving carousel that transports them into the dish room where staff members scrape pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste into a grinder with re-circulating water. Pulped food waste from approximately 2,400 meals served daily moves through two-inch copper piping to an extractor, which separates water from the waste, leaving nearly 80 percent solids.

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The process is described in an article by Madelyn Pennino in Keystone Edge, an online magazine.

Above: The extractor separates the fluid from the organic waste.

Below: An Elizabethtown College staff member empties the solid organic waste into a holding tank.

Pennino writes: “…Both pre-consumer and post-consumer organic food waste from the dining halls is piped into a pulping system in the building where food waste is broken down and where water is separated from the waste. The water is recycled back into the pulping system and any excess water is pumped into a heated truck, which can hold up to 1,200 [gallons of extracted water, 1,600 pounds] of pulped organic waste and is transported to [a farm] twice a week where it added to a cow manure digester.

“Turzai says…‘Elizabethtown’s pulping system recycles the wastewater, thereby reducing the need for fresh water.’

“Since the new pulper system has been installed the school has cut overall water consumption in its dining facilities by 80 percent and cut annual waste hauling charges in half [by] $15,000. The savings is also reflected in the fact that a compactor capable of holding 10-12 tons of non-recyclable waste is now removed from the school once a month instead of every two weeks. That waste is fed into a digester at the farm, mixed with manure at a temperature of 100 degrees and turned into a methane gas that powers approximately 199 kilowatts an hour, enough to power 200 homes.

Photos courtesy of Elizabethtown College; photographs by Michael Bupp.

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The farm’s anaerobic digester, which produces the methane, was built three years ago and is used for animal bedding and gardening. “[The farm] sells the electricity created at the farm to a local power and electricity company.

“Also as a result of the process, excess thermal heat is created which is used to maintain a milking and pasteurization system as well as sterile bedding for the more than 700 cows at [the farm].”

Turzai hopes to pursue more partnerships to strengthen sustainability initiatives in the future. u To read the entire article, visit www.keystoneedge.com and search “Elizabethtown waste.”

An engine powers a generator that converts methane into electric energy.

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ASHLAND UNIVERSITY Hosts Baking 101 for Sibs and Kids

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family that bakes together stays together. Or, at least they have a lot of fun together in Baking 101, an activity that is part of Sibs and Kids Weekend at Ashland University (AU). Now in its eighth year, Baking 101 attracts AU students and their young relatives who combine their talents to bake desserts and ice cookies in Convo, the student dining hall in the lower convocation center.

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Attendance at this year’s Baking 101, held in mid-February, reached 80, so two classes were held to accommodate all the participants. “Typically we’re in the dining hall pumping out 3,000 meals a day, so we usually don’t get to interact at this level with students,” says Fred Geib, general manager of student dining operations. Students and their family members are very appreciative of the program and many kids have participated for several years, he adds.

When Sibs and Kids weekend started, explains Kevin T. Burke, executive sous chef, there were few campus activities in which visitors participated. Since student dining began Baking 101, many other activities were created for the weekend, including programs involving the academic departments.

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When students and their young relatives arrive they dress in chefs’ hats and AU aprons, which they may take home as souvenirs. To kick off the sessions, Burke instructed participants about how to ice eagle mascot cookies and mix ingredients for monkey bread. Boxes are provided for kids to place cookies that haven’t been consumed on the spot. Dining staff members baked the monkey bread in the dining hall’s kitchen and packaged it for participants to pick up and take home later in the day.

Erin Misheff (top right) helps Wylie Bradley, 4, hold up her Tuffy the Eagle cookie while Theresa Bradley (top left) encourages Harper Bradley, 3, to do the same. Photo by Lindsay Cameron.

Material for this article was submitted by Lindsay Cameron, intern for the auxiliary services department at Ashland University.

Emily Brambrick, 14, right, helps Casey Spatafore, 7, ice a Tuffy the Eagle cookie during Baking 101. Both girls came to campus for Sibs and Kids Weekend, visiting AU student, Katie Bruner, 19. Photo by Lindsay Cameron.

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W H AT ’ S

“It’s nice to remember what we were like at a young age,” says Laura Huntington, an AU student, who brought her niece Casslyn Huntington to Baking 101. “Sometimes we look at little kids and think they’re annoying but sometimes they look at us and think we don’t play enough,” she said. Huntington said her niece loves to bake—she has four aprons, a collection to which Baking 101 contributed—so the event is appropriate to her interests. u

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Geib says the students usually create one dessert that needs to be baked and picked up at dinner in addition to icing cookies or another simple activity. Past challenging desserts have included apple pies, chocolate truffles, and dipped pretzels.

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“Students used to do the baking in the kitchen, but the success of the activity no longer allows for that,” Geib says. “But students and their relatives have just as much fun in the dining hall area.”

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WELLNESS &

nutrition

Healthy Initiative: UCONN’S HEALTHY HUSKY PROGRAM

By Drew Gibson, FMP Assistant Area Manager UConn Dining Services

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Conn Dining Services’ Healthy Husky program helps educate students about what it takes to eat healthfully on the University of Connecticut campus and in everyday life. Working closely with its nutrition coordinator in the department of wellness and prevention services, UConn Dining Services provides students with healthful food choices, nutrition education, and support for individual dietary needs. The department works hard to ensure that everyone’s eating experience is healthy, safe, and enjoyable.

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One of the first tasks in the development of the Healthy Husky program was to identify the Healthy Husky criteria: entrées must be 300 calories or less per serving, fat calories must be 30 percent or less, and fat calories from saturated fats must be seven percent or less. Food items that meet these criteria are identified by the Healthy Husky red apple logo on signage and/or packaging.

Nutritional analysis posted near all food items helps direct healthy eating and identifies many allergens. Educating students, faculty, and staff about proper labeling was another necessity when developing the Healthy Husky program. Identifying menu items by using colored symbols did not seem to work, but using abbreviated word codes did the trick, and customers began to understand how to read the labels. For example, abbreviations include: VEG=vegetarian, VGN=vegan, HL=healthy line, NUTS=contains tree nuts, GF=gluten-free, and LR=local routes (sustainable local vendors). Along with the codes, icons are used to identify Healthy Husky menu items, such as an upside down salt shaker for items with less sodium (300mg of sodium or less per serving) and a red apple for Healthy Husky items.

Each dining facility prepares at least one Healthy Husky entrée at lunch and dinner. UConn Dining Services staff members frequently encourage students selecting Healthy Husky entrées to include vegetables (either steamed or from the salad bar) and whole grain or high fiber items, such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and whole grain breads or rolls. Students are also invited to take a piece of fresh fruit for dessert or a snack to consume later in the day when they leave dining facilities. During dinner hours, UConn also provides Healthy Husky grab-and-go breakfast items (such as oatmeal, fresh fruit, milk, bagels, and yogurt) for students who do not have time to eat breakfast in dining facilities.

UConn clearly identifies menu items to help customers make wise choices.

Menu choices served in retail units include spa line foods (such as ranch garden, fruity tuna, and other wraps; citrus bean and other salads) and additional food choices that are low in fat (less than 10 grams) and calories (less than 450).

UConn Dining Services also attempts to identify ingredients that may cause allergic reactions for those with food allergies. Food production employees are instructed about the severity of food allergies so they will be cautious when using various pans for preparation and avoid other cross-contamination practices. Allergens are identified on the nutritional labels posted on packaging

Students are also invited to take a piece of fresh fruit for dessert or a snack to consume later in the day when they leave dining facilities.

UConn Dining Services uses a variety of events and promotions to educate our customers: • Dining units showcase a nutrition- and health-related topic to provide students with assistance in making healthy eating decisions. Topics include portion sizes, exam-time eating, healthful snacking, MyPyramid, the importance of breakfast, and options for on-the-go eating.

• Up to five vegetable mascots walk around the dining halls and interact with students to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. The mascots also distribute information about nutrition and Husky Healthy items and give out t-shirts and food samples.

A spa line of foods is available in retail units. They are low in fat (less than 10 grams) and calories (less than 450).

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Students who are interested in viewing various allergen information contained in their menu items can go to UConn Dining Services’ website, select “Menu and Nutrition Information,” choose the dining location they would like to visit, and set filters by selecting the allergens they would like to show or hide.

When students next view menu items at that dining location site, all items with the selected allergens are identified. Allergens are also included in the nutritional analysis for each item serviced and posted on the website. (See nutritionanalysis.dds.uconn.edu.)

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or near the food items; however, there is always a risk of contamination. For example, formulations of products made by manufacturers could change or be substituted at any time without notice. Managers check manufacturers’ ingredient labels regularly so they can alert their customers to any changes.

Although UConn Dining Services operates its own bakery, it is not a nut-free bakery and cannot guarantee the absence of cross-contamination within its baked goods, so signs at the dessert area alert students to this fact. UConn Dining Service’s policies and information about food allergies are posted on the website and stated in print publications.

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• Individual dining unit employees, with the help of the UConn Nutrition Club, provide luncheons based on the theme of Tasting the Rainbow Nutrition.

They may include interactive booths and games, special Husky Healthy lunch items, information on sugar in soft drinks, portion sizes, Healthy Husky labeling, and basic information about how to eat the rainbow to eat smart.

These themes are very well received by students and faculty.

• Larger informational health fairs are held by the nutrition clubs and department of wellness and prevention services. Individual unit managers and staff can participate in these events if they wish.

W E L L N E S S

&

In addition to the student programs, dining services management who are members of the University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association (UCPEA) take part in eating healthy luncheons sponsored by UCPEA and provided by UConn Dining Services. This program is usually held during summer sessions so all UCPEA members can attend. Luncheon topics include eating gluten-free, eating locally grown fresh foods and non-processed foods, and foods brought to us by the pollination of honeybees.

UConn Dining Services is dedicated to promoting the Healthy Husky program and continually seeks marketing opportunities to highlight its efforts in order to educate the campus community. Enthusiasm and interest are fostered by keeping communications and information fresh, exciting, and up-to-date.

Feedback from online surveys supplies information about perceptions and the acceptability of the program and drives ongoing activities.

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The strategy of UConn’s Healthy Husky program is to provide as much education as possible to students, faculty, and staff about the foods they select so they will be more aware of the nutrients they are consuming and how they fit in with a healthful lifestyle. The reception to the program has been extremely favorable and continues to expand. u

The

HEALTHY HUSKY program

gives students these FOUR

GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW:

12 34

Avoid going longer than five hours without eating, never skip meals, and incorporate a healthy snack between meals.

Be informed of all the food choices before putting food on your plate. (Students are encouraged to go online or read the U Cuisine to select healthy choices before coming to a dining facility, or just to look around at the food offered when they enter dining serveries.)

Try not to overload your plate, especially if you are very hungry. When you are finished, you are welcome to have more.

Eat slowly and mindfully. You will be more apt to be in touch with and listen to your hunger and fullness cues.

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simply beautiful

& Sweet

By Donna Boss Contributing Editor Indulgences Give your dining halls and catered events show-stopping finishes with desserts that satisfy customers of all ages.

W

hat could be better than savoring the sweet taste of a yummy dessert after a fine meal? Nothing at all, according to dessert aficionados, who assert that dessert is the most important course of a meal. Regardless of where diners rank these treats among meal courses, sweet indulgences are an opportunity to show off the talents of pastry chefs and bakery staff.

Anything chocolate is always popular on college campuses. At University of Richmond (UR), chocolate triple layer cake and chocolate torte with raspberry filling are favorites on the catering menu. “These are so versatile that Wendy Boberek, lead baker, and the staff can put their own spin on them to fit the event,” says Cynthia Stearns, assistant director, marketing and special programs.

Mini-mousse cones are another hit at UR’s catered events. Mousse fillings in several flavors, such as strawberry, lemon, and (of course!) chocolate, are put in small cones, dipped in chocolate, and garnished with fruit, mint, and other toppings. “These are easy to prepare and make a dramatic statement,” Stearns says. “They are cutting edge—they’re small enough in size that customers can indulge in a taste without feeling too guilty.” Stearns also suggests dipping the cones in both white and dark chocolate to create a tuxedo look.

Chocolate cakes and toppings also appear in the showcase at Heilman Dining Center, an all-you-care-to-eat facility. “These delicious desserts tempt visitors, who gaze longingly into the glass,” says Stearns.

At Colorado State University (CSU), chocolate meets whoopie pies to capture the attention—and loyalty—of sweet lovers.

The whimsical chocolate cookie-cakes feature a rich vanilla butter cream middle and a chocolate squiggle across the top.

These desserts are simple to make. In fact, it’s the simplicity that adds to their appeal.

Whoopie pies have been added to the CSU dining halls’ three-week cycle menu (they appear twice). “The halls’ managers can order the desserts they want for their customers, and all order the whoopie pies,” says Joan Smith, bakeshop director. The pies also are presented for special events, such as the recent sports gala held during March Madness. “We decorated them to look like basketballs,” she explains.

Dessert displays at University of Richmond’s Heilman Dining Center tempt students year-round. Desserts are themed for holidays, such as Valentine’s Day. Photo courtesy of University of Richmond.

Smith and the bakeshop staff are starting to branch out and develop new fillings, such as peanut butter truffle and marshmallow, in a multitude of colors. And the batter can be altered by making a white base, which they color in the university’s green and gold. “It’s incredible how the ideas take off when you have a staff with a lot of creativity,” Smith says.

Whoopie pies are easy to make. “We use a little cookie scoop to portion out the batter,” Smith says. “Once cooled, they can be assembled. They’re simple but very flavorful, fun, and very appealing to this age group. They’re also so versatile that you can do everything under the sun with them.”

Another simple dessert that has become popular at CSU is tzimmes pudding, which features an aromatic blend of spices and is bathed in a rich crème anglaise. Tzimmes is a traditional Jewish dish, and this flavorful pudding makes the perfect grand finale for a Rosh Hashanah meal.

Mini mousse cones at University of Richmond offer a small, sweet taste of dessert. Photo courtesy of University of Richmond.

Blueberries are a great choice for turning a simple dessert into a show-stopper. Fresh blueberries are available year-round (April through October from the U.S., and October through April from South America) and only require a quick rinse before using. Frozen blueberries are washed before they are frozen and can be used directly from the container. Some of the more popular fruit desserts on campuses include blueberry walnut sundae (a classic that can be made with frozen yogurt) and blueberry mango colada.

Presentation in a parfait or martini glass adds a festive touch.

Combining even the most simple dessert recipes with elegant presentation brings a sweet moment of conclusion to a meal. Such indulgence is reason to celebrate.

TIPS FOR BLUES When using blueberries, these tips will ensure that the fruit is used to its best advantages.

THE RED, THE GREEN, AND THE GRAY OF BLUES If the color of the blueberries changes during recipe preparation, it’s because: • Acid (from citrus juice or vinegar, for example) turns the color of a pureed blueberry mixture pale pink to bright magenta.

• A greenish haze surrounding blueberries in baked goods means the pH of the batter is too basic. Adjust the recipe to increase the acid level slightly by substituting some of the liquid with citrus juice, apple sauce, or sour cream.

• Blueberries blended in milk, cream, or ice cream can result in a grayish to lavender hue. Correct the color with a bit of acid.

BLUES ON THE BOTTOM Blueberries may sink to the bottom of a batter. Here’s why and how to fix it: • Fresh or frozen blueberries will sink in a batter that is too thin to support them. Use a batter with a higher specific gravity.

• Too much air has been incorporated into the batter. Avoid over blending during the first stage of creaming.

• Coating blueberries with flour or cornstarch will help them stay suspended.

• To keep berries from clustering on the bottom of a thin batter, spread two-thirds of the batter in the pan, gently add two-thirds of the blueberries, carefully top with the remaining batter, and sprinkle with remaining berries.

• Folding still-frozen blueberries into a batter helps prevent sinking and the frozen berries are less likely to burst as they bake in the batter.

• For cupcakes, fill the cups or molds two-thirds full with batter, then dot with blueberries, which will distribute themselves as the cupcakes bake.

BLUE LIQUID TO BLUE GEL Fresh blueberries blended in a mixture (such as a smoothie, uncooked sauce, or salad dressing) cause the mixture to gel within a few minutes. This is caused by the natural pectin in blueberries. Like other factors, the pectin content will vary by variety and season. Simply stir or blend to return mixture to its original consistency before serving.

FROZEN BLUES Measure and use frozen blueberries while still frozen. Frozen blueberries collapse when thawed so are best used in baked and cooked applications and in smoothies.

Material submitted by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.

Chocolate Triple Layer Cake I N D U LG E N C E S

CAKE Ingredients:

S W E E T

University of Richmond Yield: One 9” cake; 12 slices

FILLING Ingredients:

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15 oz. cake mix, deluxe devil’s food

Instructions:

Prepare chocolate batter per package directions.

Pour into thin layers in prepared cake pans.

Bake according to package directions.

Cool completely before assembly.

Whoopie Pies CHOCOLATE CREAM CAKE Ingredients:

Colorado State University Bakeshop Yield: 6 dozen

14 oz. granulated sugar 6 oz. canola oil 8 oz. whole eggs 1 lb. all-purpose flour 3 oz. unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 4 oz. milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line baking pans with parchment.

Beat sugar and oil until crumbly.

Add eggs and beat well.

Whoopie pies at Colorado State University are embellished with a slice of orange, loose berries, and chocolate drizzled on top for a fancy, upscale look. Photo courtesy of Colorado State University.

1 ½ oz. baker’s chocolate, unsweetened 3 oz. chocolate chips, semi-sweet 1 ½ oz. coffee 3 tbsp. heavy whipping cream ¾ oz. egg yolk, raw, no sugar 1 ½ oz. liquid egg whites 1/3 oz. granulated sugar

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Instructions:

Bake at 425°F for 5 to 6 minutes or until tops are cracked.

Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture. Add milk and mix well.

With lightly floured hands, roll dough into 1-½” balls, or scoop onto pan using a cookie scoop.

Place on baking pans 2” apart. Flatten balls slightly.

Melt chocolate with coffee over double-boiler, stirring constantly. Let cool.

Cool completely.

Add yolks and beat thoroughly.

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FILLING Ingredients:

Whip heavy cream and sugar until it forms stiff peaks.

Gently fold the cream into the whites and whip just to combine.

Add the melted chocolate/egg mixture and stir to combine.

Pour into a bowl or pan and allow to set-up in the refrigerator.

Assemble cake using mousse between layers.

14 ¾ oz. cake shortening 10 oz. butter or margarine 3 lb. powdered sugar 1/3 oz. salt 1/8 tsp. almond extract 1/3 oz. vanilla extract 1/3 oz. BLOV flavor compound 5 oz. water

Instructions:

TOPPING Ingredients:

Combine shortening, butter, powdered sugar, salt, and flavorings.

4 ½ oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips 3 ¾ oz. heavy whipping cream

Scrape down bowl and add water slowly on low speed.

Instructions:

Heat heavy cream until just boiling. Pour over chocolate chips. Stir until the chips are melted.

Spread on top of cake.

Serve with fresh whipped cream, berries, and/ or a chocolate or fruit sauce.

Whip on high until light and fluffy.

Continue whipping on medium 3 to 5 minutes.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE Ingredients: 1 lb. bittersweet chocolate, chopped 8 oz. unsalted butter 1 oz. light corn syrup

Instructions:

Place chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler.

Add corn syrup and set over a pan of simmering water.

Chocolate triple layer cake at University of Richmond is served with fresh whipped cream, berries, or a chocolate or fruit sauce. Photo courtesy of University of Richmond.

Stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Cool.

To assemble whoopie pies:

Turn half of the chocolate cookies flat side up.

Top with buttercream icing.

Top with remaining cookies.

Drizzle chocolate glaze over the top of the pies.

Blueberry Walnut Sundae

BLUEBERRY COMPOTE Ingredients:

Submitted by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council Yield: 4 portions

Instructions:

GLAZED WALNUTS Ingredients:

Fold in 2 cups of the blueberries and microwave on high power until berries just start to pop, 30 to 60 seconds.

Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of sugar with the orange juice and cinnamon.

Add walnuts; stir until well coated.

Spread on prepared baking sheet.

Bake until just toasted and aromatic, about 8 minutes.

Remove from oven; sprinkle with remaining sugar; stir until evenly coated.

SUNDAES Ingredients: Blueberry compote 2 c. frozen vanilla yogurt (low-fat or fat free) Glazed walnuts ¼ c. fresh blueberries

Instructions:

Divide the blueberry compote among 4 dessert dishes.

Scoop frozen yogurt onto the compote.

Top with the glazed walnuts; garnish with the remaining ¼ cup fresh blueberries.

Serve immediately.

Cool to room temperature.

Note: Both the glazed walnuts and blueberry compote may be prepared ahead of time. Store the glazed

walnuts in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks; try as a delicious snack or on salads.

Store the blueberry compote, covered and refrigerated, for up to three days. Wonderful served warm over pancakes or French toast. u

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I N D U LG E N C E S

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir gently and cool to room temperature.

S W E E T

Instructions:

In a 1-quart glass measuring cup or microwavable bowl, microwave preserves on high power just until melted, about 20 seconds.

41 C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

¼ c. sugar 2 tsp. orange juice ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon 1 c. California walnut halves

¼ c. blueberry preserves 2 c. fresh blueberries

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The 2011 National Conference Committee and the entire Southern Region invite you to Reinvent Your Future at the NACUFS 53rd National Conference this July.

As indicated by its theme, the conference will focus on ways that you can meet the challenges facing our industry and position your program for a successful future. Professional development has always been a core component of the national conference, and this year’s sessions are sure to educate and inspire on a wide variety of relevant topics.

The conference committee has worked hard to ensure that from the moment you arrive, you will experience a true taste of what Texas and the Dallas area have to offer. The conference headquarters is the luxurious Gaylord Texan Resort, offering world-class accommodations, dining, and conference facilities—all conveniently under one roof. And you’ll want to be sure to bring your Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats for a boot-scootin’ good time at our closing event at the Circle R Ranch.

JULY 13-16, 2011 PRE-CONFERENCE: JULY 12-13

For additional information and to register, visit www.nacufs.org/conference.

The Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN TEXAS!

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Tuesday, July 12 8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Purchasing Workshop (Pre-conference) 8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Neighborhood Market Retail Workshop (Pre-conference)

Jack Kemper Golf Outing The 25th annual Jack Kemper Golf Outing will be held at the only NFLthemed golf course in the nation, the Cowboys Golf Club, located a mere five minutes from the hotel property.

Wednesday, July 13 6:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Golf Outing—Cowboys Golf Club

First-Time Attendees Orientation Make the most of your first national conference! We invite all first-time conference attendees to kick off the conference at this reception, where you can meet your national and regional officers and learn what to expect during the week.

7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Neighborhood Market Retail Workshop (continued) 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Purchasing Workshop (continued) 3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. First-Time Conference Attendees Orientation 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Theodore W. Minah Reception 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Theodore W. Minah Dinner and Award Presentation

Theodore W. Minah Reception, Dinner, and Award Presentation Network among friends and colleagues as NACUFS celebrates the recipient of its most prestigious award. Be sure to congratulate this year’s winner at the customer appreciation party.

Leadership: Successful Strategies Through Transformation In our opening general session, Howard Putnam, former CEO of Southwest Airlines, will share his principles of leadership and outline key strategies to navigate turbulence and transformation successfully.

9:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. Schwan’s Customer Appreciation Party

Thursday, July 14 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Awards Breakfast

8:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

General Session

Leadership - Successful Strategies Through Transformation Howard Putnam

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Super Sessions

Presented by:

Meryl Snow, Catersource Speaker & Consultant

Chef Ty Thoren, Gaylord Texan Resort Executive Chef

Katrina Grider, Managing Attorney, Katrina Grider and Associates

Note: Agenda is subject to change.

Showcase

5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Culinary Challenge

5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Industry Appreciation Reception

10:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

Club NACUFS

Friday, July 15 7:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.

Regional Breakfasts

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

General Session

11th Annual Culinary Challenge Cheer on your favorite competitor in this exciting live-action competition, as six regional winners vie for the top prize and ACF gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Extreme Professional Makeover Christine Cashen

11:15 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Showcase

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

Club NACUFS Don’t forget to pack your dancing shoes for late-night networking at Club NACUFS.

Strategically Reinventing the Future

Russ Meyer, University of Nevada, Reno

Mona Milius, Bakergroup Foodservice & Hospitality Consultants

Terry Waltersdorf, Faith Baptist Bible College & Theological Seminary

Seafood Sustainability: What You Need to Know

Scott Anderson, Shepherd University

Ed Rhodes, Phillips Foods, Inc.

Riding the Street Food Movement

Storm Hodge, University of Washington

Lance LaFave, University of Washington

Michael Meyering, University of Washington

Debbie Proctor, University of Washington

Extreme Professional Makeover Motivational speaker Christine Cashen will make you laugh as she shows you how to take charge and reinvent your own future.

Grow Food Sustainably: Permaculture on Your Campus

Ryan Harb, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Ken Toong, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Note: Agenda is subject to change.

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12:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Speak with industry representatives and see the latest products and services during this year’s showcase, which will feature more than 350 exhibitor booths.

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Showcase

Thursday, July 14 continued

DALLAS

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GREAT TRAIN ROBBERIES Some locals may tell you that it ain’t safe to ride the trains, but that’s only because of the desperados that hang around Grapevine for the staged train robberies, held each weekend during the summer.

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CONFERENCE AGENDA Friday, July 15 continued

How to Find Programming Solutions in Unexpected Places

Jeff Pauley, San Jose State University

H. David Porter, Porter Khouw Consulting, Inc.

Today’s Food Safety “Hot Topics” Explored

Tom Chestnut, National Sanitation Foundation

Debbie Sherman, Texas A&M University

Ed Thompson, Avendra, LLC

Joseph Williams, Glazier Foods Company

Reinvent Your Training!

Gale Marjorie Cotton, Brigham Young University

Dean Wright, Brigham Young University

Nutrition Forum

Retail Forum

Contract Administrators Forum

3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

Creating Student Leadership with Liquid Hand Soap

David Keala, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Grace Lee, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Daniel Scott, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Spencer Tan, Brigham Young University-Hawaii

Create the Vision to Reinvent Campus Dining

Nancy Levandowski, Iowa State University

A Bumpy Road: Driving Voluntary Meal Plan Sales

Tamara Highsmith, Virginia Commonwealth University

Joyce Sealey, East Carolina University

Stephanie Sumner, East Carolina University

Going Beyond Composting to Food Waste Prevention

Andrew Shakman, Lean Path, Inc.

Campus Coffeehouse Bootcamp

Margaret Heery, Bunn Corporation

Melissa Nichols, Bunn Corporation

Pamela Yee, Sodexo

Improving Operations with Real-Time Student Feedback

Brent Beringer, University of Virginia

Steve Casad, University of California-San Diego

Cindy Laurence, University of California-San Diego

Johann Leitner, Touchwork Note: Agenda is subject to change.

Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards Display Make time to browse through this year’s Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards contest entries to see what other members are doing and gather fresh ideas for your dining department.

The awards will be on display Tuesday afternoon through Friday during conference registration hours.

Interest Session: Today’s Food Safety Join industry experts, suppliers, and university foodservice operators to talk openly about top-of-mind issues regarding food safety.

Campus Coffeehouse Bootcamp Learn how the proper selection, preparation, and marketing of coffee and espresso offerings can increase profitability for your operation.

DALLAS

C O N F E R E N C E

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

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2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

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PICK GRAPEVINE OPRY With alumni vocalists including Leann Rimes and Miranda Lambert, the Grapevine Opry is sure to entertain with its contemporary and classic country/ western music.

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Friday, July 15 continued 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Member Forums

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Be sure to stop by one of several member forums during the conference for roundtable discussions with your association colleagues about topics important to you.

Food Trends: What’s Hot and What’s Not

Marc Eggerding, U.S. Foodservice

Dan Ross, U.S. Foodservice

Finance/ROI Forum

Catering Forum

Sustainability Forum

4:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

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HISTORIC DOWNTOWN GRAPEVINE Shop and explore Grapevine’s downtown historic district! With half a dozen wineries, more than 200 shops, art galleries and entertainment, you’ll find something for you there.

General Membership Assembly

Saturday, July 16

Interest Session: Can You Hear Me Now? If you’ve ever wondered about what makes an auxiliary or business services director “tick,” this session is for you.

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

7:15 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.

Continental Breakfast

8: 15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

Can You Hear Me Now?

Patty Eldred, University of Vermont

Writing an Effective Business Plan

Rich Neumann, Ohio University

Gluten/Allergen-Free Options Without Compromise

Carrie Anderson, Purdue University Residences

Rachel Begun, Kettle Cuisine

Susan Herr, Indiana University

Measuring Campus Sustainability Performance with STARS

Lauren Heising, University of Colorado at Boulder

Michael Meyering, University of Washington

Note: Agenda is subject to change.

Reinventing Healthy: Marketing Better-For-You Choices

Julaine Kiehn, University of Missouri

Jay Marshall, San Jose State University

Alexei Rudolf, Barilla America, Inc.

Michele Wilbur, Cornell University

Myth Busters: “Green” Disposable Packaging

Nancy Levandowski, Iowa State University

Rick MacDonald, University of New Hampshire

Dave McIntosh, Fabri-Kal Corporation

Dean Wright, Brigham Young University

Indian Flavors

Jyoti Gupta, Jyoti Natural Foods

Dr. Vijai Gupta, Jyoti Natural Foods

Anish Patel, Mr. Kooks

Dimple Patel, Mr. Kooks

Good Cents!

Jon Garrett, Premier Alliance

Nancy Lane, Hubert Company

Culinary Forum

Marketing Forum

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Interest Session: Reinventing Healthy

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

This session will focus on the latest research on millennials and healthy dining, and offer tips for successfully marketing better-for-you options on campus.

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Crossing the Generational Divide at Work Jason Ryan Dorsey, “the Gen-Y Guy,” will give you insights on how to bridge the generational gap in this entertaining and practical session.

Interest Session: Good Cents To be successful in today’s campus environment, every penny counts! This interactive session will provide you with ideas on how to make your foodservice operations more profitable.

Closing General Session

Crossing the Generational Divide at Work: How Your Multigenerational Workforce Can Be a Food Service Advantage

Jason Ryan Dorsey

11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.

C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

8: 15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.

C O N F E R E N C E

Saturday, July 16 continued

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

Reinventing Campus Retail Dining

Dave Prentkowski, University of Notre Dame

Ann Roebuck, Envision Strategies

Rob White, Envision Strategies

Reinventing Data Intelligence in Campus Dining

Howard Bobb, Yale University

Jeanette Norton, Yale University

Steve Roberts, Data Central Note: Agenda is subject to change.

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GRAPEVINE MILLS MALL This mall is the largest value shopping and entertainment complex in the Southwest, with everything from computer animation and theatres to designer outlets and specialty stores.

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Saturday, July 16 continued 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.

Interest Session: Customized Building for the Digital-Native Generation This session will focus on how institutions can use unique approaches to meet the expectations of the next generation of digital-native students.

DALLAS

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SIXTH FLOOR MUSUEM Make time for a history lesson at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. Learn about the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.

Interest Sessions & Member Forums

Navigating the Implementation of a Gluten-Free Dining Program

Tracey Keegan, Children’s Hospital, Boston

Rob Landolphi, University of Connecticut

Tim Trachimowicz, College of the Holy Cross

Redefining the Dining Experience

Amy Beckstrom, University of Colorado at Boulder

Kerry Patterson, University of Colorado at Boulder

Mona Milius, Bakergroup Foodservice & Hospitality Consultants

Jim Sukenik, Bakergroup Foodservice & Hospitality Consultants

Reenergizing Food Waste: Creating Community Partnerships

Jill Irvin, Purdue University Residences

Tarah Schroeder, Ricca Newmark Design

Kathleen Seeyle, Ricca Newmark Design

Customized Building for the Digital-Native Generation

Julaine Kiehn, University of Missouri

Bradley Lukanic, Cannon Design

Joie Schoonover, University of Wisconsin-Madison Housing

I’ll Show You How It’s Done

Tony Farero, East Carolina University

Jessica Prim, East Carolina University

Social Media Strategy Workshop

Jeff Cole, Kellogg Company

Johnni Rodgers, Kellogg Company

Senior Level Self-Op Forum

Board Plan Forum

1:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards Luncheon Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats Be sure to stick around for our closing event at the Circle R Ranch, where we’ll kick up our heels in true Texas style with cattle roping, gunfighters, line dancing, and more.

6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Closing Event

Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats— A Night at the Circle R Ranch

Note: Agenda is subject to change.

REGISTER BY JUNE 3

NEW Lower Registration Fee—$450 To help more members take advantage of the incredible professional development opportunities at the national conference, we’ve significantly reduced the conference registration fee to just $450—that’s more than 25 percent less than last year and our lowest rate in more than a decade!

E AT, D R IN K A N D BE T E XA N !

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Register for conference and pre-conference events at www.nacufs.org/conference. Be sure to stay at the official conference hotel—the Gaylord Texan—to receive your registration discount.

C O N F E R E N C E

TO RECEIVE THE DISCOUNTED RATE!

NATIONAL

conference

CANDIDATE C O N F E R E N C E

FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT

C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

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T I M OT H Y DI E TZ L E R

Director, Dining Services Administration Villanova University

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS PRESIDENT-ELECT?

As an association, we need to focus on that which sustains NACUFS: meaningful volunteer opportunities; our relationships with industry and our common mission—to foster exceptional campus dining programs.

NACUFS’ strategic plan challenges us to advocate for sustainable foodservice philosophies and practices. As president-elect, I will recommend the appointment of a project team which will focus on bringing industry leaders, food manufacturers, academics, media, and food service operators together at a sustainability summit.

This summit will draft a sustainability responsibility statement for the association, along with developing new opportunities to partner with industry in identifying solutions to current challenges and issues. From this leadership role in sustainability, NACUFS will emerge as the premier higher education association. I seek your support and vote at the General Membership Assembly on Friday, July 15th, in Dallas.

WHAT ARE YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO NACUFS?

•N ACUFS’ current strategic plan is an excellent document and guide for the future. I am proud of the contribution I have made to NACUFS in serving on the Mid-Atlantic Regional strategic planning committee and as a national strategic planning coordinator.

•S ince 1989, I have been an active volunteer, enjoying these opportunities to serve, learn, and network.

•S haring and exchanging perspectives on leadership and vision.

TOP NACUFS EXPERIENCE: • Summer of 1989: attending my first NACUFS institute (Leadership Institute) and my first national conference, both held in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

• 2001: Presented “Building Partnerships” at the NACUFS National Video Conference—a remarkable opportunity to work with Dean Wright.

• 2002: National Conference in Orlando, where I shared a Loyal E. Horton Grand Prize with my team... and Mickey Mouse!

• 2011: Opening session presenter at the MidAtlantic regional conference in Richmond, Va. • 2002-2011: Bidding on Mary Molt’s latest edition of Food for Fifty in the annual Clark DeHaven Silent Auction.

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE • 2004-2006: Chaired the Mid-Atlantic Region’s strategic planning committee, developing a one-page strategic plan for the region.

• 2007-2010: Served as a national strategic planning coordinator during the development of NACUFS’ current strategic plan, working with Mona Milius and Russ Meyer.

• 2008: Facilitated at the NACUFS Visioning Summit in San Antonio Texas.

• Active member and volunteer of NACUFS since 1989, serving on five national project teams and committees.

• Served six years on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council as president, vice president, and regional conference co-chair.

CANDIDATE Director of Residential Dining Ohio University

TOP NACUFS EXPERIENCE: 2007-Present Secretary/Treasurer, Chair Finance Committee 2005-Present Chair, Salary Survey 2010 Presenter at Financial Management Institute 2010 Presenter for webinar: Data-Driven Decision Making 2002-2006 Midwest/Region IV President

OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE • Oversees day-to-day operations of four dining halls and three grab-n-gos serving 8,300 students on a meal plan.

• Oversees a $33.2 million expense budget at Ohio University.

• Developed and implemented production manager internship and formal student leader training programs for credit at Ohio University.

• Major team player in the development of a six-year business plan for Culinary Services at Ohio University that will fund the development of a Culinary Support Center and major renovation of three dining halls.

• Presented 18 interest sessions at NACUFS national conferences and 21 interest sessions at regional conferences.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS SECRETARY/TREASURER? NACUFS is about commitment. I am committed to keeping NACUFS strong financially during these challenging times, while serving the best interests of our members and the association. I plan to accomplish these goals by:

• Aligning our spending with the strategic plan.

• Maximizing our resources by partnering with other associations that provide services our members want while at the same time sharing our resources with those associations who want services we offer. I have served as the chair of the allied association partnering project team.

Through strategic partnerships, we can offer more services to our members in a cost-effective manner.

• Continued commitment to fund educational programs such as our institutes, online education programs, webinars, seminars, symposia, and pre-conference workshops.

Education is vital if we are to be successful.

WHAT ARE YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO NACUFS?

In my current term as secretary/treasurer, we created a $500,000 national conference reserve to fund travel grants to the national conference and keep the registration costs to future conferences affordable. This year, we are offering 40 of these grants, which cover travel, hotel, and registration expenses up to $2,000. We lowered the registration fee for the 2011 National Conference from $625 to $450 and we increased the institute travel scholarships from $200 to $600.

In 2009, the downturn in the economy necessitated utilizing $207,964 of our fixed reserve to balance the budget. In 2010, we returned the entire $207,964 to our fixed reserves.

I have served as secretary/treasurer during good and bad economic times and have demonstrated that I am committed to keeping NACUFS financially strong. Serving two terms as secretary/treasurer, two terms as regional president, treasurer of the 2001 National Conference, regional vice president, regional treasurer, and hosting two sub-regional conferences further demonstrates my commitment to NACUFS.

53 C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

RI C H N E U MA N N

C O N F E R E N C E

FOR SECRETARY/TREASURER

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conference C O N F E R E N C E

NATIONAL

THANK YOU

to the 2011 National Conference Committee National Conference Chair Shirleta Benfield University of Oklahoma sbenfield@ou.edu

Education: General Sessions Richard Fritz Murray State University richard.fritz@murraystate.edu

AudioVisual Mike Betzold Texas Tech University michael.betzold@ttu.edu

Education: Interest Sessions Barbara Brooks Georgia Perimeter College barbara.brooks@gpc.edu

Board Liaison Kirk Rodriguez Texas Tech University kirk.rodriguez@ttu.edu

Food and Beverage David Deason Texas Tech University david.deason@ttu.edu

Culinary Challenge Bryan Varin University of Georgia bvarin@uga.edu Dining Awards Meredith Statler The Lovett School mstatler@lovett.org

Bob Miller Georgia Southern University bmiller@georgiasouthern.edu Golf Outing Frank Henry University of Oklahoma fhenry@ou.edu Headquarters June Viera Texas A&M University jvieira@tamu.edu

Industry Liaison Sandy Nicholason sandyn@mindspring.com Marketing Julie Crider Vanderbilt University julie.crider@vanderbilt.edu Shawn Henry University of Oklahoma smallory@ou.edu Protocol Sr. Maureen Schrimpe University of Maryland schrimpe@umd.edu

Special Arrangements Ray Galleno University of North Carolina regallen@uncc.edu Shohreh Sparks University of North Texas shohreh.sparks@unt.edu Sponsorship Dave Annis University of Oklahoma dannis@ou.edu Treasurer Sean Childers Texas Tech University sean.childers@ttu.edu

Registration/Volunteers Staff Liaison Jeanne Fry University of Georgia Sandy Smith NACUFS jfry@uga.edu ssmith@nacufs.org Showcase Susan Van Gigch University of Georgia svgigch@uga.edu

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For this issue of Campus Dining Today, we called on operators and marketing specialists working on college and university campuses to share various facets of their successful marketing programs. You’ll discover how your colleagues use a wealth of valuable tools and techniques to capture customers’ trust and loyalty by building a recognizable, reputable brand. You’ll learn how they develop marketing strategies and convey appropriate messages through the use of every type of media, from posters to Facebook. What’s more, you’ll find examples of marketing initiatives—some elaborate and expensive and others quite simple and executed on a shoestring budget— and all of which resulted in a positive return on investment.

The examples on the following pages illustrate how powerful marketing can be in shaping images and positioning a product or even the entire department’s services in the college and university marketplace. They also drive home what participants at the NACUFS Marketing Institute discover: marketing is not a function done only by the marketing department.

Rather, it should be integrated into every activity and program, and understood by all the employees regardless of their responsibilities.

Perhaps the most important message in this issue is marketing is always a work in progress. It must change with the times, the customers, employees, and the needs of the colleges and universities. What could offer a more challenging and potentially satisfying opportunity to express insight, creativity, and understanding? u - Donna Boss Contributing Editor

for

Marketing

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I

n many dining services operations, marketing was once considered a dreadful task, often put on the back burner until more prescient jobs were completed. But marketing is now becoming a priority as organizations recognize the potential benefits of a well-executed marketing strategy.

M A R K E T I N G

The Case

THE CASE FOR MARKETING BRAN D IN G: C ASE ST U DY 1

THE FOOD LITERACY PROJECT

AT HARVARD

M A R K E T I N G

By Crista Martin Director for Marketing & Communications Harvard University Hospitality & Dining Services

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T HE BRANDING PR OJE C T Recognizing both a growing interest in food, yet a widening gap in understanding of its core components, Harvard University Hospitality & Dining Services (HUHDS) founded the Food Literacy Project (FLP) in 2005. The FLP provides educational opportunities around the nutrition, sustainability, preparation, and community of food. The majority of its efforts are focused at undergraduates, many of whom are making their own food decisions for the first time and forging their adult relationships with food. Programs also reach the broader community as well, and as the FLP grows, so does its audience.

PROGRAM DEVELOPM E N T During the first six months of 2005, the FLP’s visual identity system and mission were clearly developed and articulated. The project has continued to grow and evolve since that time with the addition of new programs and services that have become hallmarks of the brand, such as the student FLP reps who work within their unique residential communities on FLP initiatives.

A local artisan demonstrates how to make mozzarella during a tour for FLP participants.

T HE PU R POSE The FLP is a unique brand because it is, by and large, an intangible experience rather than a commodity or product. The FLP brand has achieved what most strive for: an emotional connection to a product or service (in this case, a connection to HUHDS, the parent brand or organization). The FLP attracts people to it by being fun, broadening world experience, growing or changing ideas, and leaving people feeling more connected to their community and their food. This correlates to better understanding of dining as a whole, including a better understanding of nutrition, an appreciation for seasonal food and menus, an understanding of cooking methods, the meaning of cooking for large communities, and a wider view of food around the world and how it brings us together.

T HE BR A N D ’S COM PON ENTS The FLP has a logo and core mission. It was given an individual identity that ties it back to the parent organization. Any program we offer is evaluated for its fit and appropriateness with the FLP before it is branded as such.

Therefore, virtually any educational initiative could be part of the FLP and numerous pieces have become part of the program, from the educational literature that breaks down the Harvard School of Public Health’s Healthy Eating Pyramid into manageable “bites,” to the Farmers’ Market at Harvard, to dining hallbased food demonstrations of Nan Gao. The FLP has a Facebook page and a blog, and is also featured heavily on HUHDS’ various social media channels, including Twitter.

Photos courtesy of HUHDS

COSTS The cost of the FLP is low. It employs one fulltime coordinator and 15 students who work about four hours a week. All other costs are drawn from general operations.

Above: Information posters and materials explain foods, such as Sriracha, that may not be easily recognized when served for the first time.

A DVI C E For most people, branding is about putting a logo on a product. It’s easy to forget that branding’s greater value is in getting the customers to emotionally connect with you—be it your service or a product.

Defining how you want them to feel about you as a payoff to your branding efforts should be a driving motivation.

Left: This guide indicates serving sizes and nutritional summaries.

KEY P EOPLE INVOLVED Ted Mayer, assistant vice president, hospitality & dining; FLP coordinators (since its founding) Jessica Zdeb, Theresa McCulla, and Dara Olmsted; and team HUHDS. u

Ted Mayer speaks about the FLP at the University of Tokyo’s Food in Education symposium.

Two students at Leverett House put together a Chinese New Year’s cake during a Nian Gao study break.

59 C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

The FLP is extraordinarily successful, as evidenced by the annual student satisfaction survey, which demonstrates that undergraduates who are aware of and engaged with the FLP rate their overall satisfaction with HUHDS higher. In addition, programs like the Farmers’ Market at Harvard are now cornerstones of community on campus, bringing Harvard’s diverse population together every Tuesday during the summer and fall to shop, commune, and eat locally.

M A R K E T I N G

MEASURING RESULTS

THE CASE FOR MARKETING Photos courtesy of University of San Diego

B R A N D IN G: C ASE ST U DY 2

TU MERCADO

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO M A R K E T I N G

By Loryn Johnson Director of Marketing, Auxiliary Services University of San Diego

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T HE BRANDING PR OJE C T

LAY IN G T HE GR OU N DWO R K

Tu Mercado opened in August 2009 as the University of San Diego’s first natural foods market, and it provides a unique dining and shopping experience. Located in the LEEDcertified Student Life Pavilion, this innovative, one-stop concept fuses retail, dining, culinary, and shopping elements. Created by dining services to provide a wide selection of natural and wellness-based foods and products in addition to full-scale grocery items, the market makes it possible for students and other customers to do all their shopping without leaving campus.

Initial conversations about new dining units for the Student Life Pavilion began more than six years ago. The idea of a marketplace/retail/ dining/shopping concept for this particular unit began to take shape in earnest three years prior to opening. We knew from the start it would be self-branded, and in addition to offering typical items such as uniforms, menu boards, packaging, etc., we would also sell logo merchandise in the store (primarily ceramic and travel mugs).

Customers can shop for groceries at Tu Mercado.

T HE M A R K E T COM PON E NTS The dining component, L’atelier, which means culinary workshop, is the culinary heart of Tu Mercado. It offers an array of freshly made, quality foods and beverages, such as Fair Trade espresso drinks, hand-spun gelatos, gourmet sandwiches, bagels from a local bakery, and more. Coffee, tea, and baked goods come from local, USD alumniowned businesses. In addition, our spirit shop showcases USD emblematic clothing exclusive to Tu Mercado. Customers can shop for everything from hoodies and coffee mugs to portable media players and cameras.

Students can use CampusCash and Dining Dollars to purchase food.

T HE C HA LLE N GE

Grab-and-go selections are branded with a tu go label.

Our intention was to create a unique brand that would appeal to current and future customers who are brand-savvy. The challenge in creating an internal brand was to work within university branding guidelines and develop logos that would please/meet with the approval of various constituents. Working with a university designer to develop the logos was advantageous to accomplish this smoothly and in a timely manner. It also saved on the budget; the cost was less than if we utilized an outside designer.

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S USTAINABILITY OBJECTIVES

M A R K E T I N G

Tu Mercado’s main goal is to make customers more aware of the choices they make and to show how they can improve their health, wellbeing, and even the state of our planet. This directly ties in with one of our university’s integral components, Catholic social teaching, and one of its strategic initiatives, sustainability. Customers find more than 3,500 unique natural products and green items, as well as local and organic produce from the campus farmers’ market.

H OW TH E BRAND FITS IN ON CAMPUS A self-branded concept is developed with each new location and renovation. Identifying each area’s unique qualities and giving it a distinctive brand has proved valuable in maintaining customers’ repeat business, keeping monotony at bay, and allowing us to best showcase our distinct menus and quality services.

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BR A N D COM PON E N TS The items we have branded include food items, such as burritos, sandwiches, and salads, which we have labeled “tu go.” We also sold customlabeled/branded USD Tu Mercado bottles of spring water during the first year of operation.

In addition, other branded items include uniform aprons, menu boards, all signage in and outside of the location, merchandise (mugs), reusable non-woven totes, packaging (gelato cups, paper shopping bags, coffee sleeves), a monthly sale circular, and website.

A Facebook page is used to promote all dining and auxiliary operations. We are rolling out a text-based feedback system to all dining locations, including Tu Mercado.

M E ASU R IN G R E SU LTS We have received positive feedback from students, administrators, the campus paper, and more. Tu Mercado is now a stop on the campus tour and often highlighted in campus marketing materials geared towards potential students. It was also recently featured in USD Magazine.

R E COGN IT ION Tu Mercado won two NACUFS awards in 2010: Loyal E. Horton (retail, multi-concept) and C-Store Best in the Business (incorporating sustainability in your store).

Branded merchandise entices students and customers to patronize Tu Mercado.

Logo mugs are offered along with other retail products.

A DV IC E Know what your target customers are accustomed to, become very familiar with successful brands, and go to the off-campus restaurants and retail locations your customers frequent. Think about what is it about those brands that is so appealing. Translate that into your own brand.

To develop your brand (logos/design/ philosophy, etc.), work with the applicable people on campus way in advance so they are invested and supportive from the get-go. If your campus has strict branding guidelines that apply to your areas, be sure to be well-versed on them and have the university designers involved whenever possible. Make sure your brand is clearly defined and understood by the unit manager.

K E Y PE OPLE IN VOLV E D Andre Mallie, executive director of auxiliary services, USD. u

THE CASE FOR MARKETING BRANDING: C ASE ST U DY 3

THE NEW STUDENT CENTER

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI–COLUMBIA

T HE PU R POSE

The University of Missouri completed the final phases of construction on a new student center this semester. The 230,000-square-foot facility features five self-branded restaurants and one new Mizzou Market convenience store.

A primary focus was to create brands that complemented one another well, while providing a wide variety of options to target the diverse student body on campus. Each restaurant offers a specific blend of products targeting college appetites.

L AYI N G TH E GROUNDWORK The job of building brands began well before the job of building walls. The process started years earlier with analysis of the previous student center food court. Student feedback pointed toward a desire for more variety and flexibility in options than the existing national brand model provided. As construction planning commenced, key dining services staff pored through market research to begin identifying concepts for new brands.

63

TA R GE T IN G A VA R IE T Y OF A PPE T IT E S Domundo’s churrascaria offers the best barbeque styles the world has to offer and includes slow smoked turkey, churrasco beef, and pulled pork, all complemented by craveable side dishes. Kate & Emma’s deli sandwiches and wraps use high-quality, fresh ingredients to create both classic and unique specialties. Pomodoro cooks a variety

The station infusion offers coffee made from fresh-roasted beans, tea, smoothies, and pastries.

C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

THE BRANDING PROJECT

M A R K E T I N G

By Andrew Lough Marketing Specialist University of Missouri–Columbia

M A R K E T I N G C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY

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of traditional and specialty pizzas using sauce made inhouse daily. Finished in an open-flame stone-deck oven, these pizzas deliver a burst of flavor and a crispy crust.

Students visiting infusion coffeehouse and bakery find fresh-made pastries and donuts as the perfect companion to a cup of coffee, made from beans roasted on site. Mort’s (named for MU alumni and creator of the Beetle Bailey comic strip, Mort Walker) celebrates the timeless spirit of the campus hangout. Pool tables, wood walls carved by students, and numerous TV screens create a lively backdrop for flamegrilled burgers, milk shakes, and hand-breaded chicken strips and sandwiches.

With two other Mizzou Market convenience stores on campus, the brand is familiar to students. The stores are known for a wide variety of options and quick service for students on the go, and this newest location certainly fits the mold.

C R E AT IN G IN D IV ID UAL ID E N T IT IE S It was decided early on to brand each restaurant individually and avoid any attempt to brand the collection as a typical food court. Each venue has its own branding conveyed through * signage, menus, and design. This Blue creates a unique challenge for BasaonedcoMisnsour ddi arLe,gaPecyppBeerefedd an Se w it h C he om ai ne messaging and promotions that To pp ed On io n R in gs , RSa .. uc e.

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At times, key messaging on table tents, staff flyers, and mass email messages needs to focus on the variety of meal options included in the MU Student Center. In these instances, it is important to maintain the brand image of individual restaurants as options and resist the urge to be too general.

WO RKI NG S OCIAL MEDIA M A R K E T I N G

Social media has been a valuable tool for promoting these brands. Campus dining services utilizes a centralized approach to social media with a focus on exclusive promotions and events. For this semester, new restaurants have focused on brand-relevant promotions. One example is a fill-the-grill promotion in which staff will literally load up the grill with food and offer double portions while supplies last.

This promotion has been very successful with the targeted customers of Domundo’s, who are male students with large appetites.

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KEEP I N G COSTS DOWN The majority of marketing has focused on available communication channels to keep costs down. So far, the vast majority of marketing has been handled using in-house resources and minimal printing costs.

BEG I N BY BRANDING The process of branding started long before naming and logo development. Having a strong brand image shared by all decision makers early in the process guides other decisions, including menu, equipment purchases, and facility design. A concise, well-researched brand image provides a stable basis for additional decisions and continues to work through opening and operating a new restaurant.

KEY P EOPLE INVOLVED Dr. Jeff Zeilenga, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs; Julaine Kiehn, director of campus dining services; Steve Simpson, associate director of campus dining services; and Alan Petersen, manager for campus dining services. u Top: The open-flame stone-deck oven at Pomodoro’s attracts customers who want pizza.

Middle: Domundo’s caters to male students with large appetites.

Bottom: Kate & Emma’s features deli sandwiches and wraps. The signage for this restaurant, as with the others, serves to market the concept.

THE CASE FOR MARKETING BR A N D IN G: C ASE ST U DY 4

REBRANDING

SPARTY’S AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY M A R K E T I N G

By Sojo Alex Brand Manager, Marketing Communications Division of Residential and Hospitality Services Michigan State University

T HE BRANDING PR OJE C T At Michigan State University, rebranding means more than developing a new logo.

In 2010, MSU’s division of residential and hospitality services, which includes marketing communications and culinary services, rebranded its campus coffee shop and convenience store chain, Sparty’s, with a new look, new drink recipes, and a new approach to customer service. Led by a brand manager, a brand manual was developed to shape everything from promotional materials to operational implements. By the end of 2011, all 19 locations will be divided by offerings as Sparty’s Express, Refresh, or Café.

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Today Sparty’s is fun, it’s bright, and it’s the place for students to order a burger from the grill or buy a toothbrush.

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Bakers are labeled with “Baked for Sparty’s,” aprons say “I Love Sparty’s,” and ad materials include “Get Your Sparty’s Today?” and “Can’t Get Enough of Sparty’s.” This reinforces the brand, offers flexibility, and has a personal connection to guests as well as the team members. The three branding divisions of Sparty’s are Sparty’s Express, Sparty’s Refresh, and Sparty’s Cafe.

BE V E R AGE S A D D E D Research also opened doors for Sparty’s to introduce its own brand of coffee, Spartan Spirit Coffee, with a tagline of “Locally roasted, Spartan approved.” We have six blends with a signature blend called Sparty’s Signature Global Blend. We evaluated our existing drink menus, changed recipes, made new drink manuals, and re-trained our baristas. Monthly special beverages include Chocolate Cupcake Mocha, Patty’s Cake Latte, and Go Green! Mint Smoothie.

T R A IN IN G Sparty’s workforce includes 450 students who take eight hours of training, including a two-hour certification course online. Training emphasizes customer service and role-playing.

We are also working on using video-based training. One main change is the expansion of employees’ scope of responsibility by shifting from cashiers to sales associates. For example, if sales associates notice students walking out of the store without making a purchase, they talk to the customers immediately about how they can help them find something they were

Sparty’s marketing before and after the rebranding.

Graphics courtesy of Michigan State University

We invested approximately $4,000 for initial research with surveys, focus groups, interviews, etc. The budget for rebranding all 19 existing stores is $75,000.

K E Y PE OPLE IN VOLV E D Guy Procopio, director of culinary services; Bill Kost, associate director of retail food services; Joe Garza, manager, Sparty’s; Sojo Alex, brand manager; Nikita Shah, assistant brand manager; Amanda Vasas, communications manager; and Stephanie Black, graphic designer. u Sparty’s Café before and after the rebranding.

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MEASURING S UCCESS We know this has been successful based on our sales figures as well as satisfaction surveys at our first branded location, Sparty’s Cafe at Hubbard Hall. Total sales from August through February are up by $426,000. Intercept surveys and secret

Before

After

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shopper surveys have shown an increase in satisfaction and overall experience by more than 76 percent. Within six months of launch, we saw a return on investment of 50 percent.

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looking for. Rather than suggestive selling, associates are trained to point out to customers how much they can save with their present purchase or by adding certain items. Students are given an opportunity to be store managers so they can gain more work experience. The training program is closely associated with our division’s guest service principles: seek out guest contact; greet and welcome each guest; display appropriate body language; anticipate guest needs; provide timely follow-up service; and thank each guest.

THE CASE FOR MARKETING BRA N D IN G: C ASE ST U DY 5

REPOSITIONING GREENFIELDS

AT NOTRE DAME

M A R K E T I N G

By Michael R. Davy Manager of Continuous Improvement Notre Dame Food Services

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T HE BRANDING PR OJE C T Notre Dame Food Services had created and introduced throughout our campus a series of menu icons—‘H,’ ‘V,’ and ‘L’ (healthy, vegetarian, and light)—that would help our customers identify specific menu attributes.

A ‘locally grown’ identifier and a ‘GF’ icon for gluten-free were added. But we needed to take the next step and look for more effective ways to promote the wellness initiatives of the university.

LAYING T HE GRO U N DWOR K In spring of 2009, we began to talk about creating an all-healthy restaurant. This was a bold and risky idea on many levels. We had an interesting challenge as we factored in the desires to have the food be acquired from local sources as much as possible throughout the seasons in northern Indiana, to provide great quality and flavor, and to win customer loyalty.

WEIGH ING T HE R ISKS Greenfields was an internationally themed cafe located in the Hesburgh Center for International Studies. It has long been a favorite place to meet colleagues and enjoy

a hot breakfast or lunch, as evidenced by consistently high customer satisfaction means (4.36/5.00). As a campus brand, Greenfields was known for comfort and quality and as a special place to dine. It also had its challenges, because customer throughput was slow. Dare we take a successful location and change it?

E M BR AC IN G T HE PR OJE CT A team of 12 embraced the project.

Both qualitative (focus groups, personal questionnaires, restaurant visits) and quantitative (customer surveys, industry trend analyses, market capacity studies) research followed, and this provided a foundation to proceed. A culinary team created and tested low-fat, low-calorie, and low-sodium recipes that featured local and sustainable ingredients. Marine Stewardship Council-certified seafood and Tall Grass beef are key components. Operational managers mapped out customer flow and touch points and interfaced with the kitchen staff to ensure quality and workable staffing profiles.

Our graphic designer created a new logo and a university interior designer was engaged to make renovation suggestions that spoke to a sustainable restaurant. By the fall of 2010, a repositioning plan was in place, cost estimates were confirmed, operational adjustments identified, and a new brand was born.

POSIT ION IN G T HE BR A ND “Cross campus to encounter a new experience in food…Greenfields calls you to dine healthy.”

This positioning was supported by a launch strategy that included articles in our campus student newspaper and faculty/ staff newsletter prior to the January 2011 opening, website news updates, and links A menu item with grains fits the healthful criteria.

M A R K E T I N G

Photos courtesy of Notre Dame Food Services

through the University Wellness website. A two-month schedule of in-house and campus neighborhood samplings, on-site nutrition education discussions, and selective coupon incentives for targeted customer groups were used to keep the buzz active. Daily review of regular feedback mechanisms (comment cards, customer conversations, and staff meetings) and sales metrics keeps everyone in the loop.

SUSTA I NABILITY FEATURES Sustainability was factored in, as well. The many features include: • Cabinetry constructed with Kirei board, manufactured using stems, branches, and leaves from the sorghum plant; • Solid-surface counters with certified protectors for safe levels of VOCs and are NSF-certified; • Bench fabrics made from materials using 100 percent wind-powered energy; • Chairs made with 111 recycled plastic soda bottles; • Tabletop holders made from the recycled packaging products from the renovation project.

In addition, Greenfields is trayless; uses reusable china, glass, and flatware; uses carry-out packaging manufactured from preand post-consumer waste products and is recyclable; and the menus change seasonally.

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Menu boards help customers make quick decisions.

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Cards identify menu items, such as pho soup.

T HE LON G T E R M Longer-term support includes planned monthly education programs and follow-up focus group discussions, as well as continued samplings as the menu changes with the seasons. To date, sales figures and customer comments indicate that rebranding Greenfields was a risk worth taking.

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Brochures introduce customers to the rejuvenated brand and include nutrition and food consumption information to help customers eat a healthful diet.

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THE CASE FOR MARKETING Photos courtesy of Texas Tech University

BRAN D IN G: C ASE ST U DY 6

TOP TIER

M A R K E T I N G

CATERING AT TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

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By Alan Cushman Administrator of Business Development Texas Tech University

T HE BRANDING PR OJE C T A build-yourown mashed potato bar is one of the many items on the Top Tier Catering menu.

As part of hospitality services at Texas Tech University, the catering area recently underwent a branding process in order to better portray this part of the department within the university setting. What was once named University Catering was developed into and established as Top Tier Catering. The target audience for this rebranding was all segments of the university community (a limited reach is made to offcampus customers). The showcasing of the Top Tier Catering was unveiled at an open house on August 25, 2010, after nearly a year of planning and development.

T HE PU R POSE The purpose behind the branding of catering was to change the mindset of the university community. “For years the name University Catering portrayed the image of drop-off dorm food and gave customers the mindset of institutional food,” says David Deason, associate director of Top Tier Catering.

Catering has evolved from a service that once provided punch and cookies for meetings to a $2 million plus, award-winning facet of the department. The catering area needed to represent the same level of brand strength as other areas of the department.

BU ILD IN G LAST IN G C U STOM E R R E LAT ION S Over the years, hospitality services has created concrete brands within its many different locations and concepts. “From the Sam’s Place mini-markets to the entire brand of hospitality services, the department has established brands that connect to our guests and customers,” says Sam Bennett, assistant vice president and director of hospitality services.

“These brands represent symbols that create lasting relationships with customers and the locations.”

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When the decision to rebrand the catering area was finalized, the hospitality services marketing and merchandising area worked closely with a local advertising group, to complete the project. The branding included all aspects of the catering image. “The early phase included establishing a new name to demonstrate the level of elegance catering represents,” says Alan Cushman, administrator of business development. “It was also important for the name to maintain a connection to Texas Tech University.” A logo was created for the new name, which lead to a new website, menu changes, and new collateral and print material. The brand also coincided with a complete remodel of the catering kitchen, including new cooking equipment.

STAT ING T HE VISION

R E SU LTS Top Tier Catering became public during an event held in the newly remodeled Merket Alumni Center on campus. “The branding change has been extremely successful for Top Tier Catering, and we have seen a different level of acceptance from our customers,” says Deason. Top Tier Catering has experienced a steady increase of new clients, and existing customers embraced the change immediately. By comparison, the cost of the branding was high, but the value is demonstrated in the end product.

K E Y PE OPLE IN VOLV E D Sam Bennett, Ed.D., assistant vice president and director of hospitality services; David Deason, associate director, Top Tier Catering; Tiffany Enderson, marketing, hospitality services; and Alan Cushman, administrator of business development. u

The home page of the website for Top Tier Catering (www.toptiercatering.ttu.edu ) presents a statement from Bennett. The message emphasizes the purpose of Top Tier Catering: Start at the Top Experience world-class venues, culinary excellence and impeccable service.

From small and intimate to robust and lavish—Top Tier Catering embodies the perfect services for any occasion. Every event, from a business lunch to a grand scale wedding, is unique and requires special attention. We handle every detail, from the culinary delights to the floral arrangements, so you can enjoy the moment and the company of your guests.

Whether it’s an intimate soiree, a convention for thousands, or breakfast with the University’s President, Top Tier will be by your side to ensure that expectations are exceeded and your event is a success. We invite you to start at the top for your next event.”

Beautifully presented filet mignon (above) and fresh salads (left) are among the items available from Top Tier Catering.

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(MESSAGE) + (MEDIA) x (CREATIVITY) =

MARKETING MAGIC

By Donna Boss and Becky Nagy Contributing Editors

MANY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITY DINING P R O G R A M S A R E E X P LO R I N G N E W A N D C R E AT I V E WAY S T O U S E M U LT I P L E M E D I A R E S O U R C E S F O R E N G AG I N G T H E I N T E R E S T O F C U R R E N T A N D POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.

feet above the floor grabs the attention of everyone who comes in.

When students first saw the video banner, their reaction was, “Wow!” That’s how it came to be known as the WOW wall, explains Janice Torkildsen, director of marketing and customer experience for the university’s dining services.

“Every day we discover new ways to use it,” Torkildsen says. “For instance, we put up some survey information, and our students responded overwhelmingly to the digital

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onsumers are constantly bombarded with information, so just getting a product, service, or promotion noticed can be a challenging endeavor. By understanding their customer’s interests, needs, lifestyles, and motivations and evaluating the potential impact of each medium available to them, campus dining services are discovering highly successful tactics for capturing the attention of their target audiences and effectively delivering impactful messaging.

Campus dining services are discovering highly successful tactics for capturing the attention of their target audiences and effectively delivering impactful messaging.

WOW WALL DELIVERS AT UN I VERSIT Y OF COLORADO When customers enter an on-campus dining facility, they are focused on the tasks at hand—select some food, connect with friends, find a place to sit—and probably are not going to notice mundane posters or signage. But the entrance to the new Center of Community Dining (C4C) at University of Colorado has a feature that cannot be ignored. The nearly 200-square-foot video banner mounted 15

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75 advertising as compared to a traditional printed piece. We even had the opportunity to measure the difference because our other dining centers do not have digital advertising at this time.”

The WOW wall comprises 16 46-inch LCD displays. Each high-tech device delivers 3000:1 resolution, 700 NITs of brightness, and the ability to handle 16.7 million colors,

The WOW wall at the University of Colorado captures students’ attention.

Photo courtesy of University of Colorado; photography by Casey Cass.

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giving the banner remarkable clarity and depth. Dining services uses the wall to inform customers about their services, policies, and promotions, such as their efforts in reducing waste and following environmentally sustainable practices. Other videos and static images feature a range of topics of interest to the university community, including break schedules, reapplication for housing reminders, and a promotional video about the Peace Corps. Additional revenue is generated by renting the wall to other departments and outside advertisers.

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSIT Y REAC HE S OU T TO COMMUTERS West Virginia University’s dining services wanted to increase the number of nonresidential dining plan holders, so it aimed its recent marketing focus on commuting students and their parents.

Since commuting students spend less time on campus and may not be reached by promotions aimed at residents, the most effective way of ensuring they receive the information is to deliver it to them in their homes. “We sent out flyers, announcements, and invitations to students at their current home addresses,” explains Cindy Alderson, assistant director.

“We wanted to let students and their parents know what is new and exciting at West Virginia University dining and to inform them of the value we can be to them. We also want them to know all that dining services offers.”

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The campaign featured a new four-color brochure (pictured) that includes a detachable contract, making it easy to enroll in any of the dining plan options.

The brochure was placed at the visitors’ center and mailed to current dining plan holders.

“We also want to promote our website,” says John Birchman, manager of public relations.

By displaying the website address on their literature, dining services hopes to drive nonresidential traffic to their site where they can view information about menus, locations, dining plans, events, nutrition, and catering services. (See: www.diningservices.wvu.edu.)

The goal of these marketing efforts, says Birchman, is to “try to maintain doubledigit gains annually.” He reports that the number of commuter dining plan purchases increased by more than 40 percent following the campaign.

FOC U SIN G ON T HE FU N AT M U R R AY STAT E U N IV E R S I TY At Winslow Dining Hall, a residential dining facility at Murray State University in Murray, Ky., several weekly specials, monthly special events, and contests generate interest and participation among the 3,000 residential students, so marketing plans leverage the excitement and enthusiasm to promote meal plan purchasing.

“The return for dining is obvious,” says Lynsey Sheets, marketing and communications manager. “We’re making customers happy.

While many students are not required to purchase meal plans at a certain point in their college careers, a great number of them choose to purchase a plan anyway. Since 2007, commuter meal plans have increased from 400 to 1,500, and the number rises each semester. Whether students are traditional or commuters, we have successfully continued to tie in the value of having a meal plan by reaching students through our residential dining operation.”

A variety of media strategies are used to market dining services and generate interest in the special events, including social media (www.facebook.com/murraystatedining and www.twitter.com/diningmsu), Murray State’s digital signage network (which streams onto televisions inside Winslow), an online calendar,

Haverford and Bryn Mawr are strengthening students’ connections with dining services by using Google’s calendar application to facilitate access to menu plans at multiple locations.

“We want students, parents, faculty, and staff to have access to menus at Haverford and Bryn Mawr so they can review what we are serving and choose what they want to eat before they arrive,” says John Francone, director of dining services at Haverford College. Customers link into a Google calendar site (www.haverford. edu/diningservices/dc/menus.php) where they can review the daily menus sorted by week and month or in a list. Viewers can also add menus to their own Google calendars so they have quick access to the day’s offerings. “We use Google Analytics to track how many page views both sites have,” Francone says. “So far, since September 2010, we have had 2,952 views.”

Word-of-mouth was very effective in promoting student interest and usage.

The winning college receives a catered meal, and the individual winner receives a free meal plan for the following semester.

“Success in marketing to students living in residential colleges is due in part to visible advertising in Winslow, but also to reaching out to student associations, like the Residential College Association,” says Sheets.

“Representatives from each college attend weekly meetings and report back to their colleges, deciding to participate in dining programs on a college-to-college basis.” So far, participation has almost never declined; the competitions are a highly popular campus activity and continue to draw students to the dining facilities.

Website delivers nutritional information

Dining services is also reaching out to customers who may have special dietary needs or interests by posting detailed information about menu items on their website. “The nutritional analysis feature was created to help parents, students, faculty, and staff learn the nutritional components of specific items on the menu,” Francone says. “This information is provided by our menu management system and our dietitian.” The Recipe Analysis Reports apply to menu items at dining centers on Haverford and Bryn Mawr campuses and show a complete breakdown of ingredients used in each recipe and nutritional data per serving.

This also helps people with food allergies identify which items they should avoid. (See: www.haverford.edu/diningservices/nutrition/ index.php.)

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Featuring familiar campus events in marketing campaigns engages students on a personal level. On-campus students at Murray State live in small, faculty-led living communities, and the contests at Winslow fire a fierce but friendly competition between these residential colleges. In addition to bragging rights, individuals and colleges can win great prizes from dining services. Two of the favorite contests are pumpkin carving and hot wing eating. Pumpkin contest entries are displayed in Winslow for a week, and students vote for their favorite. The college that submits the winning pumpkin receives a free catered meal for their whole community. Teams from each college compete for four consecutive Thursday evenings in February to see who can eat the most extra-hot hot wings in 15 minutes.

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frequently updated communication through the university’s website (www.murraystate. edu/dining), traditional campus posters, and student newspaper ads.

Dining services used campus-wide emails and posters to draw attention to the calendar and website, and word-of-mouth was very effective in promoting student interest and usage.

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The Saikou sushi bar was promoted through electronic screens across campus, newspaper advertisements, Facebook, a college blog, and posters placed on campus. “We provided several sampling days to gain interest and gave out coupons for free product,” Labe says. “We also increased interest by having sushi platters on select days in the dining hall. All of the marketing efforts, in conjunction with wordof-mouth, got the word out to students and staff successfully.”

Daily reports tracking sales have helped evaluate the success of the marketing plan.

“We have been seeing consistent sales since the program started,” Labe says.

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Electronic media featured prominently in the marketing plan for the Saikou sushi bar, a new offering in The Coop at Haverford’s Campus Center. “We wanted to increase the customer base by appealing to a larger and more diversified audience,” says Geoffrey Labe, manager of The Coop. “We knew sushi was popular and we wanted to keep customers on campus rather than losing them to the local restaurants.”

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WASHIN GTON U N IV E R SIT Y ST IM U LAT E S SA LE S, SE RV IC E W IT H ON LIN E FOOD OR D E R IN G Dining services at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) is leveraging the power of the Internet to boost sales and service for their customers. Webfood®, a commercial software program, is growing in popularity at WUSTL. Students, faculty, staff, and anyone with a meal plan or campus card can log onto the online system to place a food order.

“The amount is deducted immediately from the meal plan,” explains Jill Duncan, director of marketing and communications for Bon Appétit Management Company, the food provider for Washington University Dining Services. “At the time of pickup, the customers go to our express pick-up station at either the Danforth University Center (DUC) or the Cherry Tree Café in the South Forty House for their hot food.”

This system was launched in September 2009 to help alleviate long lunch lines at the DUC, where approximately 3,000 lunches are served daily. “Students’ classes are centered around the DUC, so this food venue receives the largest amount of volume during this time,” Duncan says.

Based on the high level of student acceptance and utilization, the service was expanded to include the evening meals at the South 40 dining location. With the number of orders topping 7,700 in March and participation increasing at South 40, they are ready to expand the service to another location. Says Duncan, “We hope to soon implement Webfood at our

Taste of Excellence

University of Iowa’s dining services has introduced an informative magazine for parents and incoming students. Taste of Excellence includes information that helps students and their parents understand the process of choosing meal plans and acquaints them with all of the services offered by the dining facilities, explains Fred Kurt, foodservice manager.

To maximize communications to this audience, Kurt says dining services also maintains an “aggressive presence” at orientation fairs, including displays, literature, and personal conversations. They also provide announcements and information on the university housing and dining department’s Facebook page.

“We haven’t done quantifiable measurements of this specific population,” Kurt says, “but we have seen a steady increase in dining scores in educational benchmarking surveys.”

University of Iowa encourages healthy lifestyles for students and demonstrates good diet and nutrition through the Smart Choices program. A campus-wide marketing program for a new initiative of Smart Choices, Wellness Wednesdays, is promoting dining services by increasing customers’ awareness of the benefits, convenience, and ease of eating healthy at the on-campus locations.

Students are able to pick up information at tables set up each Wednesday by campus departments that highlights healthy menu choices, displays featured items’ nutritional information, and encourages them to make healthy choices for their personal and environmental well-being. In addition to the informational tables, announcements and promotions are posted on the university housing and dining Facebook pages.

Branding materials for Wellness Wednesday include a logo, signage identifying healthy menu items at the venues, and nutritional displays. Healthy menu items are also identified with the U-Choose program symbol. Foods carrying the yellow apple with an “I” in the center have been approved by the university’s Healthy Campus Nutrition Advisory Group.

Taste of Excellence Everything you need to know about Residential Dining at The University of Iowa

Taste of Excellence Everything you need to know about Residential Dining at The University of Iowa

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UN I VERSIT Y OF IOWA

Wellness Initiative Promotes Dining

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third largest venue, The Village, which is on the north side of campus where a large number of students live.” The next step will be adding online ordering to Bear Deliveries, the campus food delivery service. “This will be marketed to students in their dorms,” Duncan says.

We review the whole year to see what stays, what goes, and we come up with new specials.

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MUG CLUB REWAR DS LOYALT Y AT SYRAC U SE UNIVERS IT Y

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Cash operations at Syracuse University offers customers a tangible opportunity to receive discounts and special promotions on future purchases—all they have to do is join the Mug Club. To be a part of the Mug Club, customers buy a Mug Club mug for a low introductory price. The refillable mugs also encourage customers to decrease waste.

“Once customers have the mug, they are entitled to 20 percent discounts on refills everyday in any of the cash operations on campus,” explains Keone Weigl, promotions coordinator. “In addition,

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specials are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. To start the program, we bought 1,000 mugs, and all the mugs were sold. We have bought an additional 600 mugs since then.”

Each month, an advertisement is placed in every one of the cash operations on campus and on Facebook. “We meet with the managers to see what is working and what isn’t because they interact with the customers daily,” Weigl says. “We review the whole year to see what stays, what goes, and we come up with new specials.”

A student brochure describing the locations and services of on-campus cafes was modified to include information about the Mug Club.

“This way, the students, faculty, and staff know that the Mug Club is available in all the places highlighted in the brochure. So, the brochure is multi-purpose,” says Weigl.

The refillable mug is a reminder to customers to support sustainability and to continue returning to the participating locations.

“The bigger purpose is to give our customers a sense of loyalty,” says Weigl. “We want them to keep looking to see what is new and generate some excitement.” u

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SUCCESSFUL

MARKETING M A R K E T I N G

ON A BUDGET

By Lisa White

CAMPUS LEADE R S A R E SU CC E SSFU LLY IM PLE M E NTI NG CREATIVE AND COST- E FFE C T IV E M A R K E T IN G PR OG R AM S TO BRING ADDE D AT T E N T ION TO SPE C IA L E V E N TS, F O O D PROMOTIONS, V E N D OR S, A N D N E W PR OGR A M S.

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A FA R E BR E A K

Chocolate Explosion on Valentine’s Day is one of several A Fare Break events.

We’ve always held some type of monotony breakers in our dining halls, but this past spring we pumped up the attention that we bring to them. We wanted students to get excited about the changes in food, recognize what we were doing, and enhance our image.

These breaks occur about once a month during the semester, and the targeted audience is our frequent dining hall customers. Instead of monotony breakers, we came up with a play on words to identify these breaks in our dining halls’ regular foodservice —A Fare Break. With this series, we are trying to build excitement for menu change-ups by advertising the events, getting students to recognize the event by the logo that we created, and enhancing our image around campus. For example, the program events for the spring semester included Chill Out Chili Bar, Peanut Butter Station, Chocolate Explosion Valentine’s Dinner, and a St. Patty’s Day Celebration. For each event, we posted an image on our digital signage system across campus, created an event on Facebook, listed it on our website, and tweeted about it.

We also advertised in our student newspaper, The Technician. The events’ costs were minimal, with the majority of the budget allocated for food, graphic design, and printed materials.

—Kelley Brackett Marketing/Communications University Dining North Carolina State University

We are creating student marketing positions with students who have a marketing, graphic design, or photography major. This will allow us to do many more promotions and make people aware of the services we provide. The overall goal is to make sure we’re increasing customer satisfaction and awareness. We plan to put together a marketing committee with various managers across the campus who would handle retail, residential, or catering areas. We want to make sure we are getting a consistent message out there, since we are currently stretched so thin. We should have the program implemented by next fall, but we are testing it out on a smaller scale this semester. We plan to bring a marketing student into all of our facilities. Also, because we’re not taking full advantage of social media, we feel this will be a good avenue to implement Twitter and capture more customers. We anticipate utilizing eight students in these positions to work 10 to 15 hours a week for a student wage. This will cost less than hiring a full-time employee but allow us to get our message out, which is what our program is missing.

—Michael Martin Director of Dining Services Ferrum College

—Lisa Krausman Purchasing Manager/ Administrative Dietitian University of Northern Iowa

A GU E R R ILLA A PPR OAC H UNC Catering got creative through the concept of guerrilla marketing. We already serve Greeley community members on a daily basis at our campus facilities, and they visit campus through a variety of collaborations between UNC and local businesses and organizations. We started asking them questions to find out who is serving our on-campus clients off-campus, if their needs were being met, and possible ways that we could help fulfill those needs.

The primary goals for marketing The Hot Dog Cart were signage and email. Students texted their friends to alert them to check out the new cart.

The answers were encouraging. There are a limited number of caterers, especially fullservice caterers, in our area. It’s atypical for a Greeley catering company to own a catering truck with a lift, a generator that powers a cooler, and hot holding carts. UNC Catering has those resources, and we can pull transportation, food, and labor resources into service, for example, to cater a large off-site fund-raising event. We also have a larger pool of talent than most small businesses because we can utilize staff from retail dining or our board operations.

M A R K E T I N G

ST U D E N TS AS STA FF

An extremely successful concept is a 35-yearold hot dog cart, which we refurbished and put into use last fall. The name of the program was simply The Hot Dog Cart, and the targeted audiences were students, faculty, and staff.

This idea was conceived due to increased enrollment, which created limited seating in the dining room. Although we have other dining venues, we had 1,350 students on the board plan with seating in the dining room for 315. The program’s goal was to draw as many students out of the dining room at lunchtime as possible. The primary tools for marketing The Hot Dog Cart were signage and email. Our campus is not very large, and it does not take long for word to spread. Actually, by texting, the student population probably did as much advertising as we did. The cart has been a hit, averaging 100 to 120 customers between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. every day. This successful program was only designed to reduce traffic flow in the dining room for a limited time, but has consequently become a permanent part of dining services. We have not had to hire additional labor, as we utilize two regular employees who alternate manning the cart.

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C REATI V E CART

M A R K E T I N G

We participated in three major events this past year: the Greeley Independence Stampede Bunkhouse Dinner, the Northern Colorado Medical Center Fundraiser, and the Top Chef of Northern Colorado competition. This began our grassroots marketing campaign. We also developed a beautiful brochure that touts our custom services of floral, cake, and ice sculpture design. In addition, we created box lunch stickers to inform people that their meal was provided by UNC Catering. The brochures and stickers, which had a positive impact on our business, cost less than $1,200 and will last for over a year. We reached out to the City of Greeley’s venues, and for an annual investment of only $200, we have status as a preferred caterer at any city-owned location.

Our next step, which in my opinion is the most important, was a re-discovery of the UNC Catering brand and what it means to our customers. This step was the easiest and most cost-effective of all—free! Our event coordinating office displays our awards and photo albums prominently.

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—Jennifer Larson Assistant Director, Dining Services University of Northern Colorado

The $5 Fridays program was conceived in response to a customer satisfaction survey.

care-to-eat dining halls for only $5 every other Friday between 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Our marketing expense has been for developing and printing posters and napkin inserts. We focused primarily on social media marketing (such as Facebook and Twitter), newsletter emails, campus updates, our website, and word of mouth. Many customers, including faculty and staff, say they look forward to $5 Fridays, and some even bring along their families. Campuswide, we have seen a 16 percent increase in retail sales at our dining halls. Retail sales at one of our locations actually increased by 72 percent by the second Friday of the program.

—Kelsey Faust Marketing Manager University of Alabama

M E SSAGE M ON ITOR IN G We initiated an on-campus message-monitor program that can be accessed by anyone on our university campus. In several buildings on our campus, large monitors are mounted on the walls in popular gathering and lounge areas. A software program allows us to design slides that then rotate in a continuous slide show all day on these monitors. Slides are quickly created and formatted by student designers and then sent to the audio/video department to be added into the monitor’s slideshow at all locations.

This process is very quick, efficient, and costeffective after the initial set up of the monitors.

FIVE DOLLAR FRI DAYS To offer a great value to our faculty and staff and increase their participation at our dining halls, we developed a $5 Fridays program. The concept was developed as a response to a recent customer satisfaction survey. In the current economy, we are all challenged with price/value perception, and this program is an effort to prove that Bama Dining listens and is committed to responding to our customers. The program gives anyone the opportunity to eat lunch at three of our all-you-

NMU dining services communicates with customers via monitors mounted on walls in popular gathering and lounge areas.

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The main objective of this program is to increase communications between university organizations and individuals on campus (including students no longer living on campus), our university faculty, and university staff. Dining services uses the message service to promote special dinner events, announce our retail outlets’ daily specials, list hours of operation by location, show changes in hours of operation during breaks, and pass on any other information that we would like to tell our customers. This program has made communicating with our customers much faster and easier, and our customers like the convenience of knowing where to find the latest information when they are on campus.

—Stephanie Raboin Marketing Manager, Dining Northern Michigan University

SOLIDIFYING RELAT IONS HIPS Calvin College Dining Services (Creative Dining Services, Inc.) presented an indoor local vendors/ foods and farmers market in September 2010 during the dinner meal at Commons Dining Hall. The target audience was Calvin College students on the resident dining program meal plan. Attendance for that evening was 603. The goal of our event was to introduce students to our vendors and the local farmers that service Calvin’s dining services. Many of our students are from out of state, and this was a great way for us to engage in conversation about food and, more importantly, prove that our dining services program strives to buy locally and offer superior products to our students. This was also a great opportunity for our vendors to see our

dining service program in action, their products being used, and the reaction from the students.

We started planning this event at the end of August. We made a list of the local companies and farms that we currently use and contacted them through email with an invitation to be a guest at our event. Of the 16 we invited, 14 were willing to attend. To get the word out to students, we marketed our event through Facebook, our website, Twitter, our daily email newsletter, signs, posters, table tents, and our television channel. We spent about $20 to print color copies of the promotional posters, table tents, and other signage.

All of our guests brought samples or handouts for our students to try or take. The biggest gain however, was the bonding that occurred between the students and the suppliers, which has carried over to a positive attitude towards our dining services program.

—Rick Balfour Director of Dining Services Calvin College

PU T T IN G IT IN W R IT IN G The goal of the marketing initiative for our publication, “Cougars’ Fill”, was to educate the APU community about hospitality service and introduce the new services, programs, products, and staff to the community. The targeted audiences were students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and visitors. The publication has 20 colorful pages filled with photos and quotes from students, faculty, and staff. We also are working to put this publication on our website. We are promoting several events through this publication, such as a students’ culinary challenge, recipes from back home, and nutritional information.

—Samuel B. Samaan, CFSP Director of Hospitality Azusa Pacific University

T E XT TO W IN

Signs and posters are among the marketing materials used to announce Welcome to Local Foods Night at the Commons.

The UNH Dining Text to Win Bruins Tickets marketing campaign targeted meal plan holders and UNH Dining’s Facebook fans.

Our local beverage vendor gave us 15 pairs of Bruins hockey tickets—these were a hot item.

Unfortunately, we did not receive them in time to run a traditional giveaway campaign,

The Bruins hockey tickets were offered on Facebook and through texting.

—Kristin Lonsinger Senior Marketing Coordinator University of New Hampshire

A B EAC H BAS H The theme for our 6th annual customer appreciation week was a Beach Bash, and the targeted audience was all retail customers at UNI. The food specials, discounts, games, and prizes are designed to increase traffic in all of our retails, while fostering good will and thanking our customers for their patronage.

The event is also done as a monotony breaker/ stress reliever for customers and to create excitement in our program. The goal of the week-long celebration is to thank customers at all five of our retail locations on campus.

We used various media for advertising, including Facebook, an email newsletter, table tents, banners, posters, stickers, and digital signage outside and inside the student union.

We also pitched the promotion to the student newspaper to use as a story. Staff wore tropicalstyle clothing, and retails were decorated with

Club soda, orange juice, lemon juice, pineapple juice, & lime juice with grenadine

Margarita

Lemonade, limeade, club soda

Tropical Rainfall

Orange juice, apple juice, lemon lime soda, & Hawaiian Punch

California Breeze Cranberry and orange juices

the beach theme. The UNI Greenhouse helped us out by placing more than 35 tropical plants in the venues. In past years, we saw an increase in our covers at all our retails. It’s hard to measure the goodwill and increased satisfaction of our customers, but we always do very well in the annual customer satisfaction survey.

—Carol Petersen Director of Dining University of Northern Iowa

FOC U SIN G ON VA LU E We are trying to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty to university dining services with our UDS Value Campaign, which targets OSU students, faculty, and staff. The campaign began in response to the suggestions made at our food advisory committee meetings at the beginning of the year. Many students have tightened their budgets and wanted to see frugal options available on campus. We developed a Value Campaign schedule to offer week-long promotions at our main convenience store on campus, Twenty Something.

We developed Value Facebook coupons and promotions, including Frugal Fridays, Last Minute Deals, and Early Bird Specials.

Campaign materials are JPEG graphics, which we can post on our Facebook page and Twitter feed as well as on our website. We are using Facebook, Twitter, and traditional signage as our promotional mediums. We began this campaign to help boost morale and customer satisfaction on campus. So far, we have had a great response from students who are excited about the values offered this semester on Oklahoma State University’s campus.

—Whitney Presley Marketing Coordinator Oklahoma State University

M A R K E T I N G

Using a third-party mobile-marketing software (the cost was $35 for this campaign), I set up a “text to” account and posted the details on our Facebook page. We received an overwhelming response—over 100 text responses, many within the first hour of the initial Facebook post. In addition to coming up with a quick solution, I used this campaign as a test to see what kind of text response we would get and to decide if other text-based promotions would be effective going forward. There was no doubt in my mind that it was an effective way to market to our audience.

In addition, I was able to start developing a textnumber database, which I can use for returntext promotions to our customers in the future.

Tiki Bar Menu Mai Tai

UNI’s Beach Bash is marketed with posters, banners, and many other media.

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so we needed to come up with a quick and costeffective solution so that we could utilize these great prizes to generate excitement among our customers for the dining program. This program was put together very quickly through Facebook and a text messaging service.

MILDRED AKINYI OTIENO

M A R K E T I N G

Mildred is from Kenya in Africa. She was born in 1962 in Nyanza Province, Siaya District. which is in the western part of Kenya bordering Uganda.

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Mildred Akinyi Otieno, an Africa is diverse in dialogues and employee with tribes. Mildred is a member of the Luo tribe. She speaks Luo which is Chartwells, the tribal “mother tongue”, Kiswahili which is a national participated language in East Africa and English and many other languages. in the Taste of She went to high school in Kenya; Africa marketing attended University in Kenya and attained a degree in psychology. campaign.

A Taste of Africa

Before she moved to the US, Mildred was working with the Kenya Wildlife Service in Nairobi (under the Wildlife Biodiversity Program).

She moved to the USA in July 2002.

Her 1st job was with the U of A Graduate building as Administrative Assistant. In 2004 she was employed

by Chartwells.

CULT URAL CAMPAIGN Our Taste of Africa/A Celebration of Black History Month marketing campaign targeted all students in our Northwest Quad Dining Hall. The purpose of this program was not only to celebrate Black History Month, but also to educate students about African food and its cultural roots to foods served in the U.S. The goal was to have fun and create dialogue between students and serving associates.

Signage was used and associates dressed in traditional African costumes. Slides also were run on the local campus televisions. The result was “menutainment” for the students and the engagement we had hoped for.

—Kim Johnson Marketing Director Campus Dining Services University of Arkansas

INCREASING VIS IBILIT Y This year we chose to focus on a way to increase our visibility and speed up the delivery of information about promotions and special events by using Facebook. While we included the entire campus, our main focus was on the students enrolled in the campus meal plan. Our primary goal was to reach students through a medium that was comfortable and familiar to them, thus increasing participation in our programs and special events.

The marketing team determined that since a majority of the student population uses Facebook in daily interaction, we would use students who work for dining services to become more involved in getting the word out. Each unit recruited one student who was assigned to a manager for messaging direction and approval, and the student would be responsible for posting on Facebook for a pre-determined number of times per week.

To enhance those efforts, we provided each department with a camera that cost about $250, so that they could post informal, impromptu pictures from the student’s perspective to create a buzz among students.

We have learned that students are becoming less and less connected to any form of print media, and we can make the most of our limited resources by tapping into our student staff to ensure that we are able to communicate in a timely, high-tech style that our customer base can relate to. By doing this, we found that participation in targeted events has increased, and we now plan to continue to use this low/ no cost method next year to circulate even more enthusiasm and participation.

—Ann M. Klaes Associate Director Dining Services Eastern Michigan University

A N OV E R SIZE D A N N OU N C E M E N T This year, we started advertising with large poster boards for special events. We do not allow table tents due to excessive printing costs and use of resources. This simple poster creates a lot of attention. We also send out posts on Facebook. The goal was to create awareness of themes in dining services. Emails to students do not seem to be working, but a large poster at check-in has grabbed their attention. As a result, all of our events have been very well attended. In addition, students ask about the posters’ messages, despite the fact that we don’t advertise at all. The oversize poster catches their eyes. It’s not another email they have to open.

—Dee Phillips Director of Dining Davidson College

Over the past several years, we have focused on technology to meet our marketing needs in a low-cost and effective way. Our largest push has been to enhance our website to include a more intuitive flow, giving students an interactive experience when accessing menu information, meal plan details, and nutritional documentation. Most recently, we have added a pop-up window feature associated with each menu item. These windows may contain cultural information, geographic origin of the dish, pictures, and nutritional information.

Another use of technology added to our marketing mix has been a flat-screen television and the software package to display menus and other information we wish to share. To enhance the use of this technology, we plan on placing a webcam in our newly renovated dining room and marketplace at the end of this year. The marketplace webcam will be linked to our television and display live video of our chef in action using a screen-in-screen display. Guests entering the dining room will be able to view the stations while making menu selections. To further use technology to reach our customers, we will also be placing an interactive touchscreen monitor at the entrance of the dining room, which will allow students to access our webpage, nutrition and allergen information, menus, and dining service announcements.

Though the hardware to make this all happen has a cost, the ease and speed of sharing information with our customers in a way in which they are accustomed is a real plus. —Matthew Doyle Associate Director of Dining St. Norbert College

TA R GE T M A R K E T IN G We used a Facebook ad to promote the annual holiday bake sale. With this medium, I was able to select exactly who views our ad. In this case, I chose anyone who lived within 10 miles of the school and was between ages 20 and 64.

We also had control of how much we spent per day and only paid per ad click. This campaign increased awareness of the bake sale to offcampus customers and drove traffic to the bake sale website. Although this was just one facet of the bake sale marketing plan, it was one of the most budget-friendly campaigns for marketing to off-campus customers.

Other tactics used in our off-campus promotions have always been more expensive to execute. This year, we tried some new ways to reach potential customers off campus, including an ad in a pee-wee hockey tournament booklet and through our Facebook campaign. In 2010, 65 percent of our off-campus customers had

St. Norbert’s interactive, touch-screen kiosk.

M A R K E T I N G

A F O C US ON TECH NOLOGY

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Advertising special events on large poster boards creates awareness and helps generate attendance.

not purchased the year before. Our campaign was successful in bringing in new off-campus business. Overall, our sales and check averages for the bake sale increased compared to 2009.

rental fairs, used Facebook and our campus paper, and updated our website. Also, we added a link directly to the OCMP page of our website for our housing-owned off-campus apartments.

—Sabrina Zimara Marketing Supervisor, Dining Services Concordia College

—Jill Horst Director of Residential Dining University of California–Santa Barbara

DOLLAR BEVERAGE PROMOTION M A R K E T I N G

In August 2009, we promoted dollar beverages in the Tate Student Center’s three cafes: Bulldog Café, Taste of Home Café and Tate Café. The cafes are solely cash operations and primarily serve faculty, staff, and students who are not on a meal plan. The promotion sets a price of $1 for any size fountain drink, brewed iced tea, soda, coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate, chai, or hot tea.

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A few printed materials are used for the promotion: banners in the windows, easel signs at each entry, and countertop signs on the beverage counter. In addition, the promotion is advertised on digital signs in the serving area. These marketing items were produced in-house by foodservice’s graphic artist. The window signs are great methods of promotion for this location, as 30,000 students pass by the windows daily.

Window signs promote locations for the University of Georgia’s $1 beverage promotion.

The intention was to run the promotion for approximately three to four weeks to increase foot traffic and entice the staff and students with value while up-selling other items. The promotion ran the full 2009-2010 academic year and was so successful that we ran it again the next academic year. Prior to the promotion, we sold $148,000 annually in beverages. The first year of the promotion, we served 215,000 dollar drinks. The perceived value for the dollar beverages was tremendous, and word-ofmouth advertising has been the best outcome of the promotion.

—Susan van Gigch Assistant Director, Food Services Retail Operations University of Georgia

GENERAT ING REV E N U E We recently used publications to help market our off campus meal plans (OCMP). We were trying to come up with additional ways to generate extra revenue this year, so we began marketing our OCMPs more aggressively. We created posters and cards, attended the community

University of California–Santa Barbara marketed its off campus meal plan, which helped increase customer counts at campus dining facilities.

M E AT LE SS M A R K E T IN G The goal of our Meatless Mondays and Beefless Thursdays campaign is to raise awareness about the environmental issues surrounding our reliance on animal proteins. We have also incorporated a lot of health and wellness information to help educate students about the personal benefits that can be derived from reducing meat/beef and even poultry in their diets. We want the entire campus to know what our goals are, and we’ve established a target reduction in meat of 10 percent by 2013 and an increase in “real food” purchases to 25 percent.

We feel that by continuing to give a strong presence to this message it will simply become acceptable behavior—like recycling has!

Each week one of our five dining halls has complete Meatless Monday menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The schedule rotates, so every community can have the experience. Student volunteers from our large environmental studies department participate in many of our efforts, and they set up a liaison table at the Monday events to share information and gather feedback about the menus offered. We have information tables at preview days, open houses, spring spotlight, summer orientation, or any place we can talk and educate. We reached out to our own campus wellness center for support, and they have participated in these events with us. In

—Scot Melillo Senior Director Dining Service Operations Chartwells at Johnson & Wales Miami

GE T T IN G C R E AT IV E O N TA P Community outreach and social awareness are important to our student customers. Each unit in our school builds a community project into their marketing plan and budgets for the endeavor. We launched a Tap Project, in partnership with UNICEF, removing all bottled water and replacing it with BPA-free reusable water bottles and cups. This reinforced our determination to protect the environment and conserve our natural resources. To promote the purpose of the Tap Project, we allowed free refills on water bottles and cups.

Our team also showed support and created awareness by wearing Tap Project t-shirts to promote this event. We offered balloons for $1 donations and sold Tap Project cookies.

The marketing campaign also consisted of an email blast to the community, door hangers,

Our focus has been on many of the new restaurants we have opened in the past year.

The university allows very little permanent signage on campus, so we often need to get creative. We use sandwich boards to promote venues, special menus, and new openings. We place them strategically throughout campus, directing students to where they need to go. Because our university is large, many students follow a consistent path. Sharing new openings and specials with them that may not be in their traditional path of travel has been very beneficial. We have found the sandwich boards drive up to 40 percent more traffic to a specific unit.

—Kris Klinger Director of Hospitality University of Southern California

More than 1.5 million children die each year as a result of not having clean water or adequate sanitation facilities.

UNICEF has saved more young lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world and understands the critical role clean water plays in a child’s survival.

As a way to raise awareness of this crucial issue, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF is launching the Tap Project, celebrating the clean and accessible drinking water available in the United States while helping UNICEF provide safe drinking water for children around the world.

During the month of April, Chartwells at Johnson & Wales University

TAP PROJECT

of North Miami will be participating in the Tap Project.

We are asking all Faculty, Staff and Students to support this by donating $1 to help us reach our goal of $1,000.

What if every glass you drink quenched someone else’s thirst?

Donating $1.00 can supply 40 days of clean water it’s not much to ask, but it could mean so much to others.

An ad describes the Tap Project at Johnson & Wales Miami.

M A R K E T I N G

—Candy Berlin Program Coordinator University of California–Santa Cruz

and the water bottles. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support, which enabled us to surpass our goal halfway through the campaign. We raised more than $2,700 for the Tap Project, which was enough money to provide safe drinking water for 300 needy children for one year through UNICEF.

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addition, we utilize table tents, create blackand-white posters, and use our website and our Food Service Adviser program. We look to industry partners like NACUFS to provide a vehicle to share written information, and we submit to national magazines to further broaden our outreach. Most of this has very little hard cost associated with it but does require some staff commitment and time.

T U C O

TUCO showcases the culinary talents of its members during the annual Chef’s Challenge, in which teams of three must prepare a four-course meal in two hours.

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AN INTRODUCTION

TO TUCO

This year, NACUFS has established a new partnership with The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO), an association for college and university dining programs in the United Kingdom. Look for regular updates from “across the pond” as NACUFS and TUCO work together to share information on relevant news, trends, and insights that affect collegiate dining. To learn more about TUCO, visit www.tuco.org.

CHALLENGING TIMES AHEAD for University Dining

By Richard McGloin Managing Director TUCO Organisation Ltd

F O R H I G H E R A N D F U R T H E R E D U C AT I O N C AT E R I N G

February 2011

TUCO

T U C O

FEBRUARY 2011

As you may be aware, the university sector in the United Kingdom is undergoing massive change at present with the introduction of increased tuition fees and changes to the way many courses are funded.

Many collegiate foodservice managers are bracing themselves for what undoubtedly will be a difficult few years.

In the past, dining services have been seen as an easy target when savings need to be made. I suggest that many institutions will take a more measured approach to cutting front-line services on this occasion. Higher tuition fees will, of course, increase the expectations of students. This was the result when tuition fees were first introduced several years ago.

Students quite rightly see themselves as the customer, and university dining programs have been working hard ever since to meet increased expectations. I am sure the challenges faced by our members are no different from the ones that you are facing.

93 Bring

Indian street food to your university The bottled beer behind your bar Café Geo at London South Bank Say hello to NACUFS TUCO_FEB11_PG001.indd 1

These changes have driven investment in dining over recent years in universities and colleges. Many successful organizations have placed food services at the heart of the student experience, creating vibrant social hubs and meeting points integrated into foodservice outlets. The old canteen/refectory with a singular use and often hidden away in isolated parts of the campus have been replaced with coffee shops, deli bars, and a modern dining experience often placed as a focal point within a faculty or teaching building. Choice is another important factor. The modern student wants access to high street brands and many leading brands are starting to play a greater part in campus life in some organizations.

TUCO aims to support members to deliver business ideas and new products that meet the needs of the modern student. In the UK, we keep a close eye on the American market because many food trends and products originate on that side of the Atlantic. The challenge for TUCO is to work with our partners—the suppliers—to make these new goods and services available as soon as possible. Many inner-city universities compete in a competitive marketplace with value for money being a key driver of sales volumes.

Increasing nutrition, sustainability, and other green issues are dominating how we plan our services. While these subjects are high on many students’ agenda they inevitably come at a premium, and passing that cost to the customer will be increasingly difficult over the coming years.

TUCO is keen to develop a relationship with NACUFS so we can share best practices, ideas, and research.

In the UK, we can learn a lot from the way services are delivered on your campuses. I wish you well for the future. u

01/02/2011 09:54

TUCO’s magazine is published monthly and available online at www.tuco.org.

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n behalf of all TUCO Organisation Ltd members I would like to thank NACUFS for the opportunity of writing this article for your magazine. TUCO has undergone massive change over the past 12 months as it looks to refine and increase the range of services it offers to members.

NACUFS EDUCATION: Breaking Down the Buzz About Marketing and Branding

By Lori Mason Director of Education, NACUFS

S

E D U C AT I O N

cott Bedbury, author of A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century, is known for making significant contributions to the success of the Starbucks, Nike, and Coca-Cola brands. In the introduction of his 2002 best-seller, he states, “Brands have been around for centuries. Why all the buzz and bother at the moment, as we begin a new century?” Eleven years into this century, many organizations are still trying to figure out what the buzz is about and how to effectively use marketing and branding tactics, including social media, to distinguish their products and services from the pack.

The primary takeaway from the program: marketing is not a function done only by the marketing department.

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The NACUFS Marketing Institute provides the answers to some of these questions, reviewing the basics of marketing in the context of both the new brand world and specifically in collegiate foodservice operations.

Jennifer Gilmore, director of marketing at North Carolina State University, described her experience at the 2010 Marketing Institute: “The agenda was perfect for both green and seasoned marketing professionals.

We covered why marketing is important, tools and methods, who’s the customer, social media, market research, and branding before launching into developing plans, budgets, calendars, media relations, and measuring effectiveness.” Receiving a copy of A New Brand World from NACUFS three weeks prior to the institute was “the perfect launch into the intensive four-day program.” The primary takeaway from the program: marketing is not a function done only by the marketing department.

Bedbury illustrates this concept well in A New Brand World: “Some of the world’s most beloved brands, Starbucks among them, spend next to nothing on traditional marketing activities. Yet Starbucks employees know how to behave. Their training, their benefits, their sense of solidarity—and therefore their attitude and presentation—are consistently a cut above those of employees in the rest of the restaurant-and-fastfood industry. Which is a prime example of how, if you understand your brand—its values, its mission, its reason for being—and integrate it consistently into everything you do, your entire organization will know

The Marketing Institute’s faculty and class of 2010 at CocaCola’s World Headquarters in Atlanta, Ga.

Sara Eberle at the University of Northern Iowa agrees. She summarizes the key takeaway from her 2010 Marketing Institute experience as, “Marketing isn’t just putting up a sign at the door to advertise a special event—it’s more than that. Before plans are made, the goals of the organization have to be understood, and staff buy-in is a must. Your front-line employees must be fans first in order to portray the level of excitement to the customers and create an enjoyable atmosphere. The marketing plan should be a collaborative effort with staff providing various levels of involvement to generate ideas.

Then, the message must be put out there in a way that’s convenient for the customer and is developed from the customer’s point of view.”

Your front-line employees must be fans first in order to portray the level of excitement to the customers and create an enjoyable atmosphere.

The Marketing Institute describes the key components of marketing as public relations, promotions, advertising, and merchandising and provides instruction and a group case study to explain the steps in developing a comprehensive marketing plan. Kristin Lonsinger of the University of New Hampshire says, “One of the most valuable things I learned at the institute was definitely the marketing plan steps we used for our case study. While I am familiar with marketing plans, I don’t always incorporate them into everything I do. This part of the institute ABOUT THE showed me how to take a step back and really think things MARKETING INSTITUTE through before diving into a project. It has helped me manage my job responsibilities much more effectively since my return from the institute. Along with this, I brought home lots of useful The NACUFS Marketing Institute is tips and ideas from my peers.” a biennial educational program held Jim Hath of Michigan State University says he also took home some great ideas, including “all the little inexpensive things that others have tried in their marketing strategies.” Janice Torkildsen at University of Colorado at Boulder remarks on the importance of networking opportunities at the program, admitting, “I have picked the brains of a few of my fellow conferees since then!” Both Hath, Torkildsen, and other 2010 Marketing Institute participants have also acknowledged returning to their campuses with new ideas and new plans for incorporating social media as part of their marketing strategies.

Overall, the participants agree they walked away with a better understanding of what it means to brand and market their campus foodservice operations—and now they know what the buzz is all about! u

in even-numbered years. Since its inception, the institute has been hosted

by Coca-Cola North America at the company’s world headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. The Marketing Institute will return again in early December 2012. For more information about the association’s institutes and other educational programs, go to www.nacufs.org.

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This key concept is taught at the Marketing Institute and was presented in 2010 by program faculty Crista Martin, director of marketing & communications, Harvard University; Andrew Lough, marketing specialist, University of Missouri; Katie Gehrt, assistant director of communication and marketing, Virginia Tech; and Rachel Warner, NACUFS marketing manager. The message had a significant impact on the group, as confirmed by Mike Kingma of Calvin College, who says, “I thought going to the Marketing Institute would be a great opportunity to learn how to develop our marketing efforts at our college’s retail cafe. I definitely came away with some great resources on how to market, but what I found even more enlightening was a redefining of the term ’marketing’ from what I understood it to be.

My biggest misconceptions were that marketing was something that only our retail operation should be concerned about, marketing didn’t really concern all of our employees, and our brand was simply our logo strategically placed on our products and signs. I can honestly say I have changed my whole mindset when it comes to marketing.” Mike says he is now working to integrate all Calvin College foodservice employees into dining’s marketing efforts. He now looks for ways to apply the brand concept and present a stronger brand image. “Whether it is the serving dish we display our food in or how our employees interact with customers, it is all an integral part of our brand and our marketing,” Mike concludes.

E D U C AT I O N

how to behave in virtually any and all situations. Behavior and quality, over time, build trust. Advertising, if it is any good, should help to confirm what already is, not what should be.”

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FINANCIAL S

uccess for an association can measured in many ways. Financial stability, membership growth, attendance at events, and many other factors contribute to the health and longevity of an organization.

But perhaps the most important consideration for an association is the contribution it can make to support the success of its members— something that cannot be easily measured.

It is this philosophy of service to our members that drives NACUFS to improve and expand our portfolio of benefits. At a time when many associations are being forced to scale back programs and services, NACUFS is fortunate to be in a position to make bold investments that will support the future success of the association and our membership.

In line with the association’s strategic plan, the board of directors funded the implementation

outlook

Joseph H. Spina, PhD, CAE Executive Director, NACUFS

of a new marketing and communications plan aimed at facilitating member networking and enhancing the image of campus dining within the higher education community. In addition, the association took steps to help members take advantage of NACUFS’ incredible professional development opportunities by lowering the national conference registration fee and increasing funding for travel grants.

On top of this, NACUFS was able to begin 2011 with enough revenue to fund its reserve accounts at the equivalent of one year’s operating expenses—just in case.

The sound financial management and tireless dedication of the association’s leadership are what make these investments possible without raising membership dues. Needless to say, this bodes well for the association as it navigates through an uncertain economy.

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY FOOD SERVICES Okemos, Michigan Statements of Financial Position As of December 31, 2010 and 2009

Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments Undesignated Funds Cash and Cash Equivalents Savings and Investments Investment in Insurance Contract – Deferred Compensation Total Cash and Cash Equivalents and Investments

2009

2010 $

1,056,149 3,504,125 107,965

$

839,900 3,188,236 93,031

$

4,668,239

$

4,121,167

Accounts Receivable Accrued Interest Prepaid Expenses

48,713 1,943 313,180 $

Fixed Assets Cost Deduct: Accumulated Depreciation Net Fixed Assets Total Assets

5,032,075

22,578 3,499 247,186 $

4,394,430

$

207,714 (139,066 )

$

213,049 (186,769 )

$

68,648

$

26,280

$

5,100,723

$

4,420,710

LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS

Total Liabilities Net Assets Unrestricted Unrestricted - Board Designated Total Net Assets Total Liabilities and Net Assets

$

45,781 214 107,965 1,092,209

$

80,840 525 93,031 1,095,500

$

1,246,169

$

1,269,896

$

754,554 3,100,000

$

550,814 2,600,000

$

3,854,554

$

3,150,814

$

5,100,723

$

4,420,710

Statements of Activities For the Years Ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 Revenues, Gains and Other Support Non-Conference National Conference Total Revenues, Gains and Other Support Expenditures and Losses Non-Conference Association Office Publications Special Projects Showcase Educational Programs National Committees Travel Member Services/Admin.

Total Non-Conference Expenditures and Losses

$

2,353,412 1,062,545

$

2,290,697 816,777

$

3,415,957

$

3,107,474

$

955,363 71,457 54,412 134,742 303,970 106,249 92,343 329,922

$

896,431 71,210 90,041 112,818 192,764 93,197 85,326 321,530

$

2,048,458

$

1,863,317

National Conference

Change in Net Assets

663,759 $

2,712,217

$

2,348,696

$

703,740

$

758,778

Net Assets Beginning of Year Net Assets End of Year Note:

485,379

3,150,814 $

3,854,554

2,392,036 $

3,150,814

The above financial information is a summary extracted from the year-end financial statements, which were audited by Fairchild, Lebel & Rice, P.C. Members may call the NACUFS office for a complete copy of the audited 2010 Financial Statements.

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Liabilities Accounts Payable Accrued Taxes Deferred Compensation Deferred Revenue

Total Expenditures and Losses

F I N A N C I A L S

ASSETS

matter OF FACT

TO R E V E A L T HE A N SW E R S , use your smartphone’s barcode reader app to scan the following QR codes.

D ON ’T HAV E A SM A R T PHON E ?

Visit www.nacufs.org/qrcodes to see the answers.

M AT T E R

O F

FAC T

A

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___% of students are satisfied with the dining service provided by their college or university.

Students rate ____ as the most important feature for their college or university dining hall food.

____% of students believe it is important for dining services to maintain environmentally friendly practices when it comes to food.

___% of students believe that social and ethical practices related to food are important.

The average total cost per meal (food, beverage, and labor) is ____.

The average transaction at a college or university C-store is ____.

___% of students are satisfied with the taste of food at their college or university dining halls.

What are QR codes?

Short for quick response codes, QR codes are twodimensional barcodes that, when scanned using an app on a smartphone, return information in a number of different ways. For example, after scanning a QR code, users can be directed to a website, download a ticket or coupon, or simply read a plain-text message, as illustrated on this page. A hot trend in marketing right now, QR codes are a great way to connect with your customers in a new way.

T HE BE ST NE WS?

Statistics are from NACUFS’ 2010 Customer Satisfaction Benchmarking Survey and 2010 Operating Performance Benchmarking Survey. For more information on the association’s benchmarking surveys, visit www.nacufs.org/benchmarking.

QR codes can be generated for free from a number of sources. Search “QR codes” online to learn more about the technology and start creating your own.

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