Tackling Problems with Campus Dining

               In an article by Sonya Stinson titled “Moneymaking Meals” she gave examples of different success stories in campus dining from across the country. Most of these universities had a problem within campus dining had to change or else they were going to keep losing money. The solutions they came up with are great for these situations and are great ideas, but you have to be careful because what works at other colleges might not work on other campuses.

               The University of Pennsylvania did a complete overhaul on their biggest dining hall in 2012. As a result they received revenue increases from 3 percent to 48 percent at various restaurants within this facility. They also redid an old coffee shop located in their college of business to make Joe’s Café, which is now a very popular place on campus. They did some amazing things with their dining program but not without the help of Bon Appetit Management Company, the company in charge of dining at UPenn.

               At Mercyhurst University, also in Pennsylvania, they had a problem with students going off campus to eat just because it was closer than the dining halls. The Company that ran the dining services then decided to buy a food truck and run it at night around that side of campus. It helped the university keep the students’ business as well as providing a healthier option than fast food seeing as nothing served at the food truck is fried.

               Of the seven universities in this article, all seven’s dining programs consult with or outsource their dining operations through a private enterprise. This makes me wonder if the article was a bit biased to outsourcing as a solution since it’s almost like an underlying theme throughout the story. It wasn’t biased towards one company either they mentioned 9 different companies including Aramark, Chartwells, and even Subway. Either way, it supplied some great incentives for outsourcing even though it didn’t say it outright.

Stinson, Sonya. "Moneymaking Meal$." University Business 16.3 (2013): 35-38. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.