As food and labor costs continue to bite into margins, college foodservice directors are studying ways to rein in their operational expenditures.
From more aggressive procurement negotiations to stricter vendor contracts, smaller portion sizes and increased energy efficiency, directors are scrutinizing their operations for ways to reduce costs.
“In general, we’re trying to figure out what is happening with our food cost projections,” said Dave Prentkowski, director of foodservices at the 11,000-student University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind. “Six months ago we thought they’d increase substantially, but since July we’ve seen them flat from the same period a year ago. But being conservative, we are planning for them to go up way beyond what we’ve seen before.
“We’re looking at menu adjustments to curtail food costs, while continuing to offer the programs students are used to, such as finding alternatives to high-priced items.”
Prentkowski, who said the school’s food costs are about 40 percent, also said, “On the procurement end, we’re working a lot more closely with manufacturers on our contracts, trying to tie in food costs and be able to hedge a potential increase by buying directly [from them] and by the truckload.”
Stricter procurement agreements also are being put in place at the University of Massachusetts, a public university with 25,000 students in Amherst, Mass.
“We are negotiating a lot more aggressively with our vendors,” said Ken Toong, director of the university’s dining and retail services. “We’ve told them they need to guarantee a price for the school year [and keep to it for] as long as possible. Before we had a very trusting relationship, but now we tell them, ‘We give you volume, so you give us the best price possible.’ And they are doing that—definitely.”
Toong said UMass also introduced optional trayless dining this school year. He expects the program to be successful, largely because of the education program that accompanied the debut.
“We have the trayless option at UMass; we started it a few weeks ago,” Toong said. “By going trayless I believe we will be able to reduce portion sizes and waste. In our marketplace concept, where we serve 3,000 people at each meal, it’s been working quite well. I’ve noticed that so far about 20 percent [of students] are not using trays.
“Some people say we can save as much as 10 percent on food costs, but it’s too early to substantiate that. It will take at least two or three years to tell.”
Toong said that of the 25,000 students currently attending UMass, 11,000 are enrolled in the meal plan. Revenues are about $53 million annually.
West Virginia University also introduced trayless dining in one of the school’s dining halls this year, said Nettie Puglisi Freshour, dietitian and program manager for the Morgantown, W. Va.-based university.
“Mostly, we did it to benefit the environment and decrease our carbon footprint,” she said.
She noted, however, that the school also is looking for ways to rein in costs.
“As of right now our food costs have definitely increased,” she said. “This is an issue that has come up, and we’re definitely watching it. Ideally, we’d like to see a decrease in food and energy costs.”
Notre Dame’s Prentkowski said his university also is examining ways to cut energy usage because of the cost of fuel.
“We’re looking at a bunch of different ways to cut costs,” he said. “There are all kinds of initiatives, [starting with] shutting off lights and appliances. More of a long-term approach includes more energy-efficient [equipment and] exhaust systems. We’re just being cautious on wasting energy.”
He added that being more eco-friendly “fits into the environmental end as well as the fiscal end.”
“But we do have to be careful on some environmental issues,” he said. “We’re trying to balance [students’] concerns, but help them understand the big picture as well.”