This document provides a report and recommendations to improve profits for the UNC Dining Halls. It analyzes factors such as food quality, operating hours, student surveys, and price comparisons. The report finds that most students are dissatisfied with food quality and hours, and cancel meal plans after freshman year. It recommends improving food quality 3-4 times per week and extending operating hours to increase customer retention and profits over time. Extending hours would allow more flexible eating and incentivize meal plan purchases.

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Profit Opportunities and Changes for the UNC Dining Halls
Presented to
The UNC Dining Halls Administration
Greeley, Colorado
Prepared by
Matt, Mitch, Connor, Faisil, Rakan, Kaelan
Senior Research Consultant
Team 4

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Table of Contents
Letter of Transmittal------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3
Introduction 4
Body--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
Quality vs. Quantity 5
Operating hours---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
Surveys 5
Graphs------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6
Price Variations 6
Analysis----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6
Conclusion 7
Recommendation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8-9
Bibliography 10

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Team 4 Research Consultants
November 28th, 2014
UNC Dining Hall Administration
City of Greeley
501 20th Street
Greeley, CO, 80639
Dear UNC Dining Halls Administration,
Enclosed is a report on the Dining Hall services. We believe you will find our report
useful in increasing the profit of the UNC Dining Halls.
We wrote the report to focus on one main area of improvement. This research led us to
one of two options:
Improving the quality of food
OR
Making meal plans more affordable to students
Our primary research for this report includes interviews from a number of UNC students.
Our secondary research includes research we’ve looked over on other Dining Halls
across the country. We have also examined the difference between the prices of a meal
on your various meal plans compared to eating fast food. The results are discussed
more fully in the report, and it indicates that some changes in the UNC Dining Halls
business plan would result in a mutually beneficial solution.
We would be pleased to discuss this report and its results with you further at your
request. My team and I thank you for your consideration and your time for looking over
our report.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Jares
Senior Research Consultant

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Intro
Improving Dining Halls
In a certain way, most dining halls in universities all over the world serve food that is
not as delicious as homemade food. We’re not saying UNC’s dining service is poor;
however, the meals could be much tastier and more nutritious. The first problem with
dining halls is that after a month, the meals start to get repetitive and you tend to lose
interest in the food UNC serve.
By creating new enjoyable meals, you would gain money from the students that
stopped their meal plan after freshmen year of college. When this option of new and
better meal plan is made available, there will be great competition and thus the UNCs
will also eventually improve on the type of meals that they offer to the student fraternity.
The meal plan will enable the students to have a variety of tasty meals that could
lead to more diet solving solutions, a situation that will keep the students healthy and fit
for academic work. Investment in the meal plan will be a good venture for both the
students and visitors in the campus as the students will have better options when it
comes to meal time. The amount of money that will be derived from the business
venture will be used well in order to provide better services through expansion of the
business. It’s going to be hard to improve but we know you can because we believe in
you. Dining halls cook better quality food every time there is a holiday to celebrate,
Christmas, for instance. Last Christmas, dinner at Tobey Kendel was unexpectedly
good; the food tasted better, new meals are served, and almost all students attend this
dinner. As a result, if everyday meals could be that tasty and the students are happy
with the quality, the dining services would gain a lot more money than it is now. This is
the essence of offering good services to the whole students during all seasons.

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Body
Quality vs. Quantity
The high potential is available, but are the students willing to do that for everyday
meals? We personally don’t think so; therefore, you could make good quality food
available at least three to four times a week. The first solution we could work on is to
avoid repetition in meals. Students will look forward to going to the dining halls and
they’ll enjoy the food. As a group, we’d rather have less but better quality than to have
more of not good quality food. Good quality is hard to produce and takes a lot of time to
achieve, so we know it’s not easy to reach that goal. In order to have students stay
enrolled to the meal plans you offer, you need to better the quality of the food; in result,
more money is received from sophomore, junior, and senior students. In this case, more
money will be spent towards the dining halls and to better the food. Afterwards, the
process gets easier and easier with time, because most of the students will stick to their
meal plan rather than cancelling it after the freshman year.
Operating Hours
Another possible course of action would be extending the Dining Hall operating
hours. Across the country many Dining Halls, such as in Lincoln Nebraska remains
open indefinitely. This allows customers to eat at their own convenience and gives them
more incentive to purchase a meal plan. While we realize this will force you to hire more
employees in the long run, this is sure to bring you more revenue. Flexibility may be one
of your dining halls weakness right now; we will be able to help make it your biggest
strength and your customers will no longer have to worry about missing meals and
wasting swipes.
Survey’s
Most of us upperclassman cancelled our meal plans after the freshman year, for
instance, all six of us could’ve still use a meal plan but because of the repetition in
meals weekly, we cancelled it. Six students from here and another six students from
there; students will end up appreciating the meal plans. The numbers will just keep
increasing if everything is done right and by doing a right job both the students and you
will be happy and satisfied. According to our survey we noticed that out of 60
participants, most of the students ate at the dining halls because they were freshman
and had to. About 60 percent of those students were not satisfied enough with either
dining hall, Tobey-Kendel or Holmes, and gave reasons such as poor operating hours,
poor food quality, and or they just didn’t like the dining halls. We found that 90 percent
of the students would rather eat elsewhere, and more than 75 percent of them
complained about not having long enough operating hours, and that they should

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increase. Now, as you can see, we only have 27 students who will end up buying a
meal plan next year, and of those 27 students, at least 14 of them brought up the option
of buying a cheaper meal plan.
Graphs per Meal
In the graphs you will see each meal plan provided. The top graph is showing how
many dining dollars each meal provides. For example, if you buy a 19 meal plan, then
you will receive 150 Dining Dollars. As shown on top, we have both freshman and
upperclassman meal plans. On the bottom graph, we show you the price per meal. This
is how much each meal would cost you for each meal plan option. As shown in the very
last graph, the off-campus meal plans all cost around the same amount of money, it
ranges from $10-$11 per meal without any dining dollars.
Price Variations
Now that we have discussed the different price options that your dining hall provides
let’s compare the Dining Hall pricewise and health wise to fast food restaurants. With
the cheapest on campus meal plan you will be paying a little under ten dollars for a
meal. There are plenty of fast food places in Greeley that you could eat a large meal at
for the same price or less, such as Arby’s, Carl’s Jr., DP Dough, Chipotle, Taco Bell,
Burger King, etc. We know that none of these places is the most nutritious place to eat
but we know your dining hall has the capability to provide such meals as we have seen
during the first few weeks of each school year. We also have faith that our requests will
be taken seriously.
Analysis
We wouldn’t have a problem if the potential isn’t obvious; however, before every
holiday break, the dining halls explode with nutritious delicious meals. That is why, as a
group, we know that the everyday meals could be way better and we bet other students
think that way as well. That’s a fact; the past Christmas, Tobey-Kendel and Holmes
dining halls had lines full of people waiting on meals among meals. Only good products
lead people to line up and wait to only TEST the product. In this case, the delicious food
was the product that was offered to us as students. We were pretty shocked; the food
did taste good as well and that what led us to talk to you. The solution we can start
working on, will end up worth every second and will end up be appreciated. What is
better than the appreciation you get from your customers? “It is the customer who pays
the wages”, Henry Ford knew the secret of right production, this quotes simply says if
the customer (students) is happy with the product (good quality food) the company
(UNC dining halls) is serving, and then, the wages of the employees are set. Students
will get motivated to work at the dining halls because of the extra money they’ll earn in
their wages. However, this would only work if more students are willing to get meal
plans throughout the semesters. It’ll take a lot of time to start the cycle, but once the
cycle is in process, everything will be easier to manage.

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Conclusion
In all, the problem is that there is not enough customer retention with sophomore
through senior students and the desire for Alumni and Faculty to attend the dining halls.
Obtaining a higher retention rate will contribute to increasing profits and subsequently
customer satisfaction. The prices of meal plans must be lowered. Quality must be
improved, even at the cost of quantity. As our survey shows a majority of students
would prefer better quality rather than quantity. Prices must be lowered because of the
competition aspect, as restaurants in the surrounding area are better value for money.
While, these processes will cost money in the beginning, they will result in higher profits
in the long term. We are confident that with our plan the dining halls at Tobey-Kendel
and Holmes will become a profitable and appealing dining opportunity for the University
of Northern Colorado Alumni, Faculty, and Students.

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Recommendation
My group, along with several other students around campus, are fed up with some
aspects of UNC’s Dining Services. With just a few easy steps, we feel as though we can
increase the total profits, get more people in the dining hall seats, and have students leaving very
satisfied and coming back for more. There should be pride in trying to please the students, but
there just doesn’t seem to be any there. The process to having an overall better dining hall can
be accomplished but we need the staff on board as much as we are for this. Things like this will
take time, but inthe end I feel like everyone will have something to gain from this. More money
will be made, and students will be excited to go to the dining hall because they know that
everyone will find something that they can enjoy. We have thinking very hard of some of the best
ways to make these services better. Some are easier than others but there isn’t a single thing on
here that can’t be accomplished with a little bit of hard work. These examples are as follows:
1. Provide more meal variety for the students on a daily basis and avoid the repetition of
meals.
Too many times have we had to deal with soggy chicken fingers and flavorless mashed
potatoes. Seeing these menu items every day gets exhausting and makes us not want to come
back. Everyone has a different taste in the preference of their food and there should be at least a
few things that people can say that they actually enjoy. This seems as though it could be the
easiest thing to change. All the resources are there for it to be made, but it is all about just doing
it. Instead of having philly cheesesteaks one time every month, and the burrito station twenty five
times a month, mix it up or at least try to make it about even. Or, find out what meals the students
prefer and serve those as often as possible.
2. Spend more money in order to increase the quality of the food and ingredients being
served.
A little goes a long way when it comes to the quality of ingredients. If more money was spent to
better the quality of food, then more money could be charged for a dining hall pass. The students
would also take notice and would keep coming back even after the required pass for their
freshman year. As a group, we feel as though this is the most important aspect of making the
dining hall better. There is no better way to increase profit than by having hundreds, if not,
thousands of more students wanting to renew, and buy a dining hall pass. As a group, we do not
eat at the dining hall on a regular basis. The only time the dining hall is visited by a lot of people is
if a friend wants, and is willing to swipe us in.
3. Make the dining hall hours more available to students all around campus because
everyone has different schedules that are very hard to try and adapt to daily.

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There is nothing worse than having to run to the dining hall after class, practice, a group project,
etc. just to make it before it closes. Many campuses around the nation leave their dining hall
open 24 hours for the convenience of the students and I feel like we need to incorporate that
convenience into our dining halls. If this were to happen, never again would you have to worry
about not being able to eat for that certain meal because you weren’t sure what time the dining
halls close. Everyone has their certain times of the day that they eat, and sometimes these don’t
correspond with the times that the dining hall is open. It seems very pointless to have to go spend
your money at a fast food place just because you aren’t able to use your dining hall pass that you
spent thousands of dollars to get.
We feel that UNC has all the tools to have very successful and profitable dining halls with
close to campus locations, spacious eating areas, beautiful interior design, and a friendly staff.
But, the reasons above, along with others, are things that are holding them back from being
award winning. If you do research on other dining halls, you will see much more variety, better
hours, and more overall attention to detail. If it were me, I would take it personally on the lack of
positive attention that our dining halls get. According to Business Insider, Kennesaw State
University has one of the 15 best dining halls in the country. The things that make them so
unique doesn’t just have to do with the food, it has to do with the environment and atmosphere.
The first example of this is that they create over 150 different meals per day. This can range from
fine and exotic meats, to various types of seafood gumbo. Now that’s variety! Next, they do
events like Gold and Black dining two times a month which is basically eating like a king/queen.
You get steak, lobster, and king crab served to you throughout the night. This is a great way to
utilize the money that the students invest in your dining hall by giving them these exquisite meals
every so often. The last example is what they do during finals weeks. They call it “Cram Jam” and
this is where inside of the dining hall, they had a DJ with dancing, different types of games and
competitions, and delicious treats that give you a nice break from the finals grind. This would be
awesome to include in our dining hall because finals are very stressful and most of the time, hard
to manage. It would be great to see that the school is putting in its best efforts in order to make
our last few weeks of the semester more enjoyable.

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Bibliography
Amelia, Levin. "College Foodservice Trends: Destination Dining with On-Campus
Restaurants." College Foodservice Trends: Destination Dining with On-Campus
Restaurants. Foodservice Equipement & Supplies, 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
* This website shows sleek serveries and fresh marketplaces continue to reign as the
eatery of choice in higher education dining, students also want full-service restaurants
and more mixed, all-purpose spaces to eat, lounge, congregate, study and be
entertained all in one place. Students didn’t want an old high school dining hall, today
they prefer environments that differ greatly with more variety and offerings in menu and
seating (more like a restaurant or sports bar). Kids are a lot more sophisticated now," he
notes "They see a lot more because of the Internet and travel, so our spaces are
designed to be different to appeal to the senses so the students feel they're someplace
different rather than just anywhere USA. We can use these trends and show how other
colleges work and succeed.
http://www.prellwitzchilinski.com/website/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Getting-to-Wow-
2005-01-00-SMALLER.pdf, Web. 28 Oct 2014.
This source give facts and examples from a number of different websites on college
dining halls trends and facts. It discusses what are the most important elements to focus
on to keep students coming back such as homeliness and quality. This will help us with
our project because it provides statistics and research on our topic for persuasion.
No Author. "Top 10 Foodservice Trends on Campus - Convenience Store Decisions."
Convenience Store Decisions. CSD Staff, 9 July 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
* This website shows the evolution of trends in college dining services. Over the past 10
years, Y-Pulse, experimentation with new foods, new concepts and new delivery
systems for some of the most demanding consumers in America. This website will help
with our project by showing logical facts about nutrition, wellness, technology, and
dining experiences.
Quiñones, By. "Task Force Recommends Ways to Improve Residential College
Dining."Princeton University. Trustees of Princeton University, 20 Oct. 2005. Web. 29
Oct. 2014.
This source persuades other dining halls to follow their lead in improving food quality. It
discusses Whitman College’s plans to improve their facilities and food qualities in order

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to appeal more to its student and faculty base. They believe that having a customer
oriented approach will help them keep more business. This website will help with our
project because it gives us a specific example of a test done at another college.
http://www.unco.edu/dining/dining/index.html Web. 28 Oct. 2014
This website show the description of each meal plan for both on and off campus
students at UNC. This website will help with our project by providing us with facts that
back up one of our claims that the dining halls are not good value for money.
http://housing.colostate.edu/student-meal-plans Web. 28 Oct. 2014
This website show the description of each meal plan for both on and off campus
students CSU. This website will help with our project by providing us with facts that back
up one of our claims that the dining halls are not good value for money, by showing an
example of another university’s meal plan options.