Marketing group suggests changes to food services

Cornyn Fasano Group's preliminary suggestions include centralized coordination of vending After conducting extensive research on University food services, the Cornyn Fasano Group has reached preliminary conclusions that the University should coordinate campus food service and create other convenient facilities to complement the food trucks. Marie Witt, Director of Support Services for Business Services, emphasized that the findings are very preliminary and will not be complete until the fall. During the first phase of the report this spring, the group conducted market research based on telephone, intercept and web surveys, making direct or indirect contact was with at least 1,500 students, faculty and staff. The project is currently in its second phase, which Witt says involves analyzing the data and integrating it with the results of the Biddison-Hier and Brownlee reports on residential living as well as retail, recreation, and health system studies. Preliminary analysis of the data yielded several findings which lead CFG to propose a number of possible changes to the University's food service program. The study revealed that food service has never been centrally managed and several University departments have overlapping responsibilities in this area. Based on this observation, CFG suggested that food services on and around campus should be centrally coordinated. The group specifically suggested that the University "continue its proactive effort to control the trucks in terms of number, location and minimum sanitation standards." Recent University actions to this end have included proposing an ordinance to limit and reorganize street and sidewalk vending around campus. "Food service is perceived as having slow service, too expensive, inconvenient, and limited in scope," a CFG memo said. "At present, the trucks partially meet this need." CFG pointed to the need for cheap, convenient and appealing alternatives to the trucks, particularly in the new Perelman Quad student center. The study also analyzed Dining Services, and found that the program is well-managed but has "failed to remain contemporary in terms of facilities, equipment, service levels and hours of operation." For example, CFG noted that all campus dining facilities were designed to support all-you-can-eat meal service and only one has been renovated in the past 20 years. CFG found that Dining Services is economically self-sustaining because labor costs are minimized by limited hours, students pay for all they can eat no matter how much food they actually consume, and students cannot redeem missed meals. In the memo, CFG made a preliminary recommendation that Dining Services consider extending its hours and offering a la carte service to better meet the needs of the University community, despite the fact that such changes would probably make Dining Services less profitable. The memo notes that "there may be certain programs, such as Residential Life and Perelman Quad, which will result in Penn sacrificing financial return in exchange for student satisfaction." The study also revealed that there are fewer than 4,00 seats available during meal and break times to serve the University's food service market of approximately 50,000 people. The memo noted that the problem is particularly pronounced at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Medical School, where there is only a cafeteria with 260 seats to serve an estimated 10,000 doctors, staff, outpatients and visitors. As a result, CFG observed that medical personnel often purchase food from trucks on Spruce Street or Houston Hall and eat in the Hall of Flags. In their memo, CFG suggested that the University "consider a plan which will limit or exclude hospital and medical staff from using this facility during peak student and faculty/staff demand times." The study also suggested that "part of Penn's truck/cart strategy needs to address the convenient location of on campus food concepts with an ample supply of seats." The modified version of the proposed ordinance to regulate local vendors would create vending areas -- complete with seating, tables and lights -- on 34th Street between Hill Field and Chestnut Street, across from the food court at 3401 Walnut Street, and in the northern portion of the triangular parking lot at 34th and Spruce Streets.