WE SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT! PROGRAM ENHANCEMENTS & ISSUES TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOUR NEXT RENOVATION PKC & GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Jeff Yawn Director of Eagle Dining Services Georgia Southern University H. David Porter, FCSI, Author President & CEO Porter Khouw Consulting, Inc. Your Hosts

Campus Snapshot  Significant enrollment growth  Estimated total enrollment for Fall 2013: 20,205  Residential students:  Commuter students:  4,000 beds  GSU may add 1,000 new beds on South campus  New 5,000 commuter students by 2016.

Project Background  PKC assisted GSU with creating the building blocks that would inform this project.  Key components:  Renovate Landrum Dining Hall & Lakeside Cafe

Project Building Blocks  Keys to successful renovation projects!  Set goals & objectives:  Goal: To develop a meaningful campus dining program to support the social fabric of campus.  Key objectives: Grow voluntary meal plan participation Provide contemporary, state-of-the-art dining venues that would attract existing & potential customers. Provide more customer-friendly meal plans & customer preference-based campus dining options.

Project Building Blocks  Complete a campus-wide master planning study.  Determine: Current customer habits & preferences (off-campus restaurants & delivery) Hours of operation Menu variety & selection  Completing this step will create the building blocks you need to build a strong customer-based, innovative dining program. Goal: To avoid “Gee, I wish we had thought about that before we started this renovation!”

Areas to Consider When Thinking Ahead  How & in what venues will customers be able to use meal plan money?  How do current staffing schedules need to be modified to meet customer demand & extended hours of operation?  What menu offerings are going to be available in each venue? What kind of equipment layout/utilities will be needed?  What changes to the campus landscape (new building, new arteries through campus) could impact the success of the dining program?  Are our current facilities undersized & how large do they need to be to accommodate any changes in enrollment?  What impact will these proposed changes have on your department’s bottom line? Creating a campus-wide dining services master plan will help answer these questions!

Determine Who You Are What makes your campus unique? Demographics Geography Culture Traditions Preferences Growth plans/enrollment Political environment Financial realities GOAL: To expand & enhance the student dining experience.

Determine Who You Are  Ask these questions:  What is your retention rate?  What is your missed meal factor?  Is meal plan participation up or down?  Are the meal plans a good value or not? Can students use their meal plans when they want to?  Is there a lack of social connectivity on campus?  Does the program attract or subtract from student life on campus?

Market Research  Interview students & stakeholders.  Directors of admissions, housing, res life and advancement (retention)  Residential & commuter students  Faculty & staff  Catering customers & conference planners  Campus administrators  Determine customers’ perceptions regarding:  Hours of operation Monday-Friday& Saturday and Sunday  Menu variety  Meal plans  Methods of service  Locations  Ambiance  Speed of service  Customer service

OUT Market Research  Survey the campus community including students, faculty & staff.  Where are customers eating off campus/calling for delivery?  What time of day/night?  How do they pay for purchases?  What they do now is a better indication of what they will do.  Use market research determine where the program is lacking & where opportunities lie.

OUT Market Research  Evaluate your facilities.  Do they meet today’s standards or are they in a time warp?  Are they competitive with your cross applicant schools?  How much deferred maintenance exists?

Optimum Dining Program  Develop the optimum dining program for YOUR campus.  Elements should include:  Concepts  Brands  Hours (Monday-Friday & weekends)  Menu variety  Meal plans  Methods of service  Methods of payment  Locations  Ambiance  Speed of service  Customer service

Optimum Dining Program  Financial consequences  How will meal plan participation change, especially with growing enrollment?  How much more labor will you need or how can the current labor be better utilized? Can you reduce labor?  If you open new locations, how many operating days will they be open and what will the average check be?  How will your operating expenses change?  How much can you anticipate growing your bottom line in a five-year period?

Optimum Dining Program  Identify necessary facility changes.  Facilities should be designed to functionally support the optimum dining program.  Do the current spaces need to enlarged or redesigned to ensure easy customer throughput & the ability to provide top-notch service?  How many customers does each facility need to support at the peak meal period? Will this change in the future?  How much will it cost to make changes?  For this project, PKC created demand analysis to determine square footage requirements & capital cost investments (including planned enrollment).

Issues & GSU  Issue: Meals-per-week plans were not popular, students were buying down to lower-priced plans & dissatisfied with meal equivalences.  Opportunity: Create more flexible meal plans that eliminate leftover meals & eliminate the need for equivalencies.  Issue: Limited hours of operation  Opportunity: Extend hours of operation in dining venues with most variety to create value-added dining program.  Issue: Limited menu variety & selections  Opportunity: Expand food/beverage selection by adding more offerings & display cooking so customers can customize their meals to order.  Issue: Dated, uninviting facilities & lack of meaningful social gathering space. Landrum had a split personality: half food court/half all-you-care-to- eat.  Opportunity: Renovate Landrum into a state-of-the-art facility anytime dining venue.

A New Vision for Dining at GSU

 Unlimited access featuring unlimited seconds & made-to-order food.  New venue name: Landrum Dining Commons  Hours:  Monday - Thursday: 7:00am-11:00pm  Friday - Saturday: 7:00am-9:00pm  Sunday: 8:30am-11:00pm Anytime Dining in Landrum Dining Commons

 More cooked to order & display cooking (eatertainment)  Menu variety expanded to respond to customers’ requests for different types of food offerings  Stations will include: Mongolian grill An Espresso/Smoothie Bar Made-to-order crepe station International station with different choices from all around the world each day Brick-over pizza by the slice and made-to-order pasta Special dietary needs (Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten- Free, etc.) station Anytime Dining in Landrum Dining Commons

 Extreme makeover!  State-of-the-art servery with interactive stations  Inviting seating area with a variety of options (booths, banquettes, high-tops, etc.)  Contemporary & inviting colors, lighting, merchandising  GSU colors & memorabilia Anytime Dining in Landrum Dining Commons

 Currently a retail café but will offer anytime dining following the renovation.  Extended hours of operation:  Monday - Thursday: 7:00am-11:00pm  Friday: 7:00am-9:00pm  New food stations at Lakeside will include:  Pizza/Pasta  Home-style foods  Southwestern cantina  Hibachi  Grill  Deli & tossed-to-order salads  Soup/salad bar Lakeside Café

Amenities  Digital menu boards  Flat-panel TVs  Soft seating  High-top tables, counter seating along the windows, banquettes, community tables.  Free wi-fi  Fireplace with soft seating  Power outlets  Upbeat music

Methods of Payment  Meal plan money/unlimited access  Dining Dollars  Cash  Credit/debit cards  Consider biometric hand readers

Unlimited Access Anytime Dining Meal Plans 7-Day Access to the new Landrum & Lakeside Dining Commons 5 Guest Passes $150 Dining Dollars Cost: $1,650/semester Eagle Unlimited Blue 7-Day Access to the new Landrum & Lakeside Dining Commons $150 in Dining Dollars Per Semester 7 Guest Passes $300 Dining Dollars Cost: $1,800 Eagle Unlimited Gold

Gravitational Pull Toward dining venues Emotional Connections Students & school Social Energy Universal Appeal Sense of Community Heartbeat/Living Room/Kitchen Design Meaningful Social Connections Last a Lifetime What Is Social Architecture TM ?

Compelling Benefits of Social Architecture TM Higher Recruitment Capture Rates Higher Retention Rates Higher Quality Housing Higher Graduation Rates Higher GPAs Higher % Alumni Involvement

The DNA of a Successful Anytime Dining Program Anytime Dining Meal Plans Continuous Hours of Operation Extended Hours of Operation Menu Variety & Selection State-of-the-art Facilities Retail Approach Optimum Value

Value Proposition  Promotes less food waste/consumption  Provides ultimate in flexibility  Appeals to parents/easy transition from home  No leftover meals  Higher gross profitability  Lower food cost (21-28%)  Voluntary meal plan participation increases  Promotes food waste  Unnecessary spending  Less gross profitability  Meals must generally be consumed during certain time periods.  Leftover meals/dining dollars causes dissatisfaction  Does not appeal to parents Access Driven: Anytime Dining Consumption Driven: Meals Per Week/Semester

Moving Forward  Using the master plan as a guide, GSU hired PKC (+two architects) to complete the facility renovations.  Project goal: “To create new, aesthetically-pleasing & attractive complexes to attract not only the 5,100 on-campus students but to also increase voluntary participation among commuters.”

Project Details  Landrum Dining Center:  Constructed in 1996, 385 seats  Demolished & reconstructed, tripled in size, located near the heart of the freshmen residential community.  75,000 sq. ft., 1,100 seats  Lakeside Café:  Constructed in 1991, 350 seats  Central campus location  New facility: 27,000 sq. ft., 515 seats  Project details:  Projects completed concurrently  Estimated completion date: July 2013  Construction Manager at Risk  Project budget: $21 million

PKC Design Process  Programming & Schematic Design  Design Development  To-scale CAD floor plans with equipment specs  Utility loads  Equipment cut sheets  Contract Documents  Capital budget estimate  Electrical & mechanical spot connection drawings  Elevation drawings  Construction Administration Services  Bid analysis  Shop drawings review  Punch lists

Phasing Strategy  Site & equipment survey  As-built drawings (obtain and/or create)  Phase-by-phase electrical & mechanical spot connection drawings for both facilities.  Coordinate with project architects in the development of:  Architectural demolition drawings  Temporary power & lighting layout  Construction partition & other documents critical to the success of the phasing strategies.  Coordinated with Owner to tag or identify existing equipment that will be reused or salvaged.  Identified timeline for the purchase & fabrication of new equipment.

Transition  During construction, GSU created a temporary dining venue called The Nest.  Accommodated combined customer counts (5,000 daily) at the two closed facilities during the school year.  All-you-care-to-eat service  Seven food stations  Cost for facility: $

Challenges  Trying to “sell” our FY13 freshmen on our temporary dining facility – The Nest. Taking both dining halls off-line at the same time was not received well. However, we did a great job with our temporary facility providing adequate dining during construction.  Challenges with communication/coordination between project team members – we need to all be on the same page! Most of this discontinuity was due to the state processes we had to follow.  The lack of understanding of our new “all access” program and dining halls. As aggressive as we have been with marketing, students and faculty need to “experience” the program to understand it.

Construction Progress - Landrum

Construction Progress - Lakeside

THANK YOU! Questions?