A Proposal to Create a New Dining Location in Front Campus Provost’s Leadership Academy Gold Team

Problems with Current Dining Options Prentice Hall is a far walk for students on the North East part of campus (Rockwell, Kent, Cartwright, Franklin) Prentice inconveniently closes at 2pm on Fridays Unable to purchase food from the Hub from 11 am-2 pm on weekdays The snack area in White Hall doesn’t accept your meal plan Jazzman’s in Oscar Ritchie offers only coffee and pastries

Our Proposal Utilize the food cart used last Spring to sell Simply To Go products to students in the North East part of campus Park the cart in Rockwell Hall or move it throughout North East campus Have the cart open Monday through Friday from mid-morning to late afternoon Allow students to use their meal plan to buy these products

Traffic Pattern Data

Population in North East Campus Compared to the Entire Campus

Data Analysis 22% of students are on the North East side of campus at least once per day Halls on the far end of campus like McGilvrey sometimes have over 1,700 students in them within one day A majority of students in this section of campus stay in these buildings for things other than class

Survey Created a survey and distribute it both in person and via the internet through SurveyMonkey.com Worked with Valerie Samuels to increase the validity of both the survey and its results Used social media websites such as Facebook The Kent Stater wrote an article about our survey efforts as well as KentWired.com Surveyed an overall total of 808 people

Survey Results N=754 M=“On Campus”

Survey Results N=788 M= “Yes”

Survey Results N=710 M=“Sandwich Shop”

Survey Results N=695 M= “Undergraduate Student”

Data Analysis Majority are undergraduate students Live on campus and dine on campus every day. 34% are on the North East part of campus every day 91% stated they would utilize the new dining location in that section of campus 1- 2 times per week Having a sandwich shop available during lunchtime hours

Placement and Meal Options The cart has its own health code, however, once it’s placed in a certain building it must also abide by that building’s health code We propose two placement options  The cart is placed in Rockwell hall year long  The cart will travel between buildings in the North Eastern part of campus

Placement and Meal Options Best meal option- offer items such as Simply To Go sandwiches, wraps, cookies, chips, drinks, and other small snacks that are pre-packaged Ensures short lines and rapid food distribution Variety will depend on what is available each semester so specific meal items cannot be decided at this time

Marketing The purpose of marketing the cart will be to inform the student body about the cart, its location, its times of operation, and the products sold The goal of marketing this project is to keep students on campus when purchasing meals to create revenue and also benefit the students The projected revenue for the cart is:  $4.25 per day x 100 students=$425 per day  $425 per day x 5 days= $2,125 per week  $2,125 per week x 15 weeks= $31, 875 per semester Possible Cart names: Food in a Flash, Flash Cart, Kent Cart

Marketing Strategies Posters Flyers Dining Services/Kent Websites Chalking Kent’s broadcasting opportunities Twitter Facebook Buses

Sample Poster

The Next Steps Make the final decision regarding the cart’s location so health codes could be obtained to ensure we follow all necessary guidelines Notify buildings about the project idea and discuss health codes and possible locations within the buildings themselves Get the equipment needed to allow the cart to accept the meal plan as a form of payment (portable FlashCard swiper)

The Next Steps Begin advertising and creating a definite menu based on food items available at the time Hire employees to work the cart and train them so the project could begin as soon as possible Keep in close contact with Rich Roldan to ensure we adhere to the main goals of Kent State Dining Services and make sure students are satisfied with the end results of the project

The Gold Team would like to thank… The Provost, Dr. Robert Frank Dr. Timothy Chandler Eboni Pringle Rich Roldan John Goehler Valerie Samuels Tia Protopapa NJ Akbar Rebecca The PLA Mentors