Fall 2023 Campus Dining Today - 6

leadership
agenda
NACUFS community,
When I think of guest experience, one of the best definitions I have come across is
the following: " The guest experience is holistic and encompasses the entire guest
journey, focusing on creating positive emotions, memorable moments, and longlasting
impressions. "
KORY SAMUE L S
NACUFS CHAIRMAN
2023-2024
KLSFSC@RIT.EDU
Holistic is the key word that drives our thinking at Rochester Institute of
Technology (RIT) pre- and post-pandemic. Long gone are the days where the
focus was just on great food and positive guest interactions. Our dining facilities,
services, and staff are some of the most personalized services in higher education
and therefore contribute to the overall university guest experience. Our students
meet their future partners, enhance their palates, meet lifetime friends, and find
comfort, life skills and more through dining experiences that are critical to their
success and engagement.
At no time in our history in higher education has the dining guest experience been
more essential than it is today. First and foremost, food is cool! You can find food
highlighted on social media, television and all different digital media platforms.
Additionally, with rising costs for students and families, they are looking for a
greater sense of value and justification of where their dollars are spent. This now
creates an environment where we need to focus on the intricacies of our facilities,
technology, digital marketing, and truthfully, any forward-facing interactions to
ensure we address the 360-degree view of our current and future customers.
We now understand that to set ourselves up for success, we must invest
strategically in showcasing what we do well within our " small cities, " as well as
increase interactions with our students to better understand their expectations
without " guessing. " If we don't know what the expectations of our customers are,
it creates an environment similar to running a race in fog without knowing where
the finish line is.
When you think of a campus through the lens of a student, no matter the size,
they are inundated with information from so many different sources. When
thinking about our guest experience, we must ask ourselves about how our
customers best consume information, set up appropriate feedback mechanisms,
and be deliberate about how we can meet their needs. One of our many goals is
to avoid barriers to our services and further personalize them. Dining is filled with
passionate staff across the country who have dedicated their careers to create
personalized experiences for their campus communities, and as we continue to
transform ourselves, positive and memorable guest experiences will always need
to be a universal goal.
I look forward to the upcoming year serving the NACUFS membership and doing
my best to provide exemplary leadership and a listening ear, while working with
you all to create value for your dining programs and your customers.
6
CAMPUS DINING TODAY | LEADERSHIP AGENDA
Fall 2023 Campus Dining Today

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fall 2023 Campus Dining Today
