Summer 2024 Campus Dining Today - 21

MEAL USAGE
When building a meal plan, we need to look at how many meals our
customers use. By running a usage report at the end of a semester, we
can get an idea of how many meals our average meal plan participant
uses and how many unused meals we have. We can then take that data
and determine if we need to increase or decrease the number of meals
we offer or to evaluate if our residential dining locations are providing
meals that our customers desire. The goal for a residential operation is
one that uses between 60-70 percent of the total possible meals (note
that if you offer meal equivalency or exchange, your usage should be
higher). If your residential location is achieving less than 60 percent
meal usage, then the offerings, stations, or hours need to be evaluated
to ensure that students are using their meals in the residential operation.
If we are providing our customers with the menu items, quality, and
hours they desire, then we should be able to achieve a 65 percent usage
rate in residential dining. It is critical that we do not just reduce the
number of meals to hit our target rate; we should be building a program
that achieves these goals without cutting back on the number of meals
being offered.
If we are providing our
customers with the menu
items, quality, and hours
they desire, then we
should be able to achieve a
65%
USAGE RATE
RETAIL
When assessing retail programs, we must
look to provide our customers with a
complete meal experience on campus. We
want multiple retail locations to supplement
our residential operations with a variety
of hours and offerings that round out and
complete our package. Now, there are
multiple ways to do that. Retail could be
solely cash/credit, but given the nature of
our customers, that usually will not generate
enough revenue to justify the wide variety
of locations a well-rounded program would
have. You could create a system of meal
equivalency, where each meal would be
assigned a dollar value to be redeemable in
retail operations. Or you could offer a set
amount of declining balance funds in a meal
plan to be used in retail operations.
Equivalency
In looking at equivalency, there are a couple of things to
consider. When determining the value you are going to assign
a meal, keep in mind that our customers are going to be doing
the math themselves and they are going to know what they pay
per meal. So, if a customer is paying $11 per meal on their meal
plan and the equivalent value is only $9, then they are going to
wonder why they are not getting the full value.
Also, keep in mind that equivalency means that the retail
operations are in direct competition with the residential
operations for revenue. While healthy competition is expected,
this can lead to a cycle where the retail operations consume
a larger amount of the meals than the residential operations,
which leads to cuts in the residential budget, which leads to
more customers jumping ship over to retail, and so on. This is
just cannibalizing one part of the program for the other. A good
rule of thumb is that if your retail is accepting more than 30
percent of the total number of meals being used, then this is a
warning sign that there could be a larger problem within your
residential program. By offering equivalency, we are not trying
to minimize the importance of our residential operations, and
as such, they should still be seeing 65-70 percent of the total
possible meals being eaten.
FINDING BALANCE | CAMPUS DINING TODAY
21
Summer 2024 Campus Dining Today

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