NACUFS 2015

From Vision to Reality

Steve Carlson Garry Griffith

From Vision to Reality:Making a financial case for a new dining center

Augustana College Center for Student Life

Setting the Stage:The Dining Scenario at Augustana before the new facility

Two dining centers - 38 years old and 55 years old

C-Store, Coffee operation - 205 sf

Snack BarCaféFaculty/Staff DR

Setting the Stage

Meal Plan Structure:• 100% retail, declining balance• Overhead taken out up front• Remaining points/flex used at all food venues• 2-tier pricing meal plans and cash

Meal Plan Issues:• Hard to market /show value to students and parents• Students ran out of points before term end

Existing Operational Issues:• 90% of food was processed (pre-made entrees, soups, salad dressings, frozen

veggies, potato pearls)• Long register lines• Theft due to no hard checkpoints• Dining dollars spread out between too many venues (dining centers had declining sales and the largest

labor pool)• Take-out mentality with 280,000 to-go boxes/year

Setting the Stage

Step One of the TransformationCreate a new C-Store

Expand Grab & Go selections with centralized production

Return to Scratch cooking

Create a 5-year Strategic Plan

Update cost controls – food/ labor

Increase Student employment

Add new concepts - Freshens/C-store

Establish an Employee partnership

Add local foods

Evaluate hours in each operation

Step Two of the TransformationPropose new Dining Center

Implement AYCTE meal plans with Flex-Block for off-campus

Develop the Proforma (the only building on campus that will pay for itself)

SWOT

Close Faculty Staff DR

Small C-Store

Two dining halls

Freshens

Dining Center, Brew, C-Store, Snack Bar (hours based on traffic)

Concessions

Making CSL THE place to be on campus

Step Three of the Transformation

Sell to the President and Board:

• You can have extended hours, AYCTE format, and lower food and labor costs

• Guaranteed $900k more to bottom line first year

The Process

Priority # 1• Stay Self-Op

– Make sure everyone who has a job today has a job tomorrow!

Making Lemonade with Lemons

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Let’s Hire a Consultant! Agreed!

? ? ? ? ?

Really?

Making the Case for a New Dining Facility

All you care to eatAll-day diningMore choicesMake more money!

CEOGARRY

Initial Vision

• 8 Marketplace Stations• Stations “dispersed” throughout seating• Display cooking at all stations• Tray-less operation• All-day dining• Display bakery• Central production for bakery & catering

Study Results

• Confirm number of stations matches peak volume

• Confirm Trayless, all-day dining, market-place can be successful and exceed students’ and parents’ expectations

• Define space required• Define equipment required and cost

Administration Approves the Project

Project Hurdles

• Do you really need all those stations?

• Can seats be available for student events?

• Do we really need all those hoods?

• Boy, that equipment is expensive

• Why did we eliminate Faculty Dining?

Do you really need all those stations?There must be a computer program to model customer flow

Can that seating be open for student events?

Do we really need all those hoods?

• It has to last a long time• Regulatory approvals

Why is that equipment so expensive?

Final Concept

Final Concept

Site Challenges/Opportunities

Site Challenges/OpportunitiesResidence Halls

Culinary Trends, Menu & Recipe Development

• Culinary-focused

• Scratch cooking standard for all locations

• Fresh-only vegetables

• Display cooking– Preparation method for half

of all meals served

Customer Service

• One-on-one interaction between staff and customer

• Continuous service

• Extended hours of operation

• Made-to-order / Grab-and-go option

Environmental Responsibility• Reusable to-go containers

• Napkins – only paper used in dining room

• Catering – all disposables compostable

Farm2Fork relationships / Augie Acres

Hydraponics Wall

Hydroponics Wall

Special Dietary Needs

• Wild Thymes• Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free

Floor Plan

Marketplace

Salad Bar

Dining Room

Questions?

Augustana Dining Services

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Thank you

Steve Carlsonwww.robertrippe.com

Garry Griffithgarrygriffith@augustana.edu