CampusDiningTodaySpring2022 - 35

price of entry. this, combined with an increased need to
exert control of one's surroundings, creates a more mindful
consumer focus on ingredients, allergens, nutritional
information, and product sourcing.
Staffing
Although staffing shortages within and beyond the
hospitality industry are hardly a secret, caterers in the
non-commercial higher education market are directly
in the path of this storm. With a flexible labor model
that relies on part-time employees, temporary staff, and
highly variable schedules, catering departments have
a primary disadvantage against restaurants-and even
the retail and residential units on their own campus. the
current operational environment (i.e., where safety and
sanitation mandates require more attendants or servers
and additional staging time to support traditional catering
service styles) further compounds this challenge.
Supply Chain
Catering departments are fully reopening into the
significant supply chain disruption in the last eighty years.
Unanticipated spikes in demand continue to unite with
sporadic outbreaks at processing plants and large farms,
while driver shortages and port logjams undermine timely
product distribution. As a result, even the most consistent
order-guide staples are suddenly unavailable or
substituted upon delivery, and commodity items
might as well be " market " priced to reflect daily
costing changes and inflation.
Coping Methods
taken individually, these may appear as
independent or temporary headwinds preventing
a successful return to business as usual. When
in actuality, these are leading indicators of a
market and consumer base that have permanently
evolved. Savvy caterers will actively analyze and
adapt their business to accommodate market
instability, embrace customer preferences, maintain
profitability, and stimulate growth. technology both
informs and enables this success.
THE MYTH OF DATA
" We just need more data " can easily become a
dangerous truism; indisputably correct, but also
without enough substance to provide value.
dropped in any meeting of like-minded business
associates, this sage observation will almost always
be met with a solemn chorus of head-nodding
tHe lIGHt SWItCH | CAMPUS DINING TODAY
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