[Catherine Fitzpatrick]

hi Eva. The Michigan State University Union had a model for “All-You-Care-To-Eat” within our food court. We had three self-op concepts that were all unique to MSU and we closed off one entrance to emergency exit only and created a scan entrance that would go into effect at the dinner hour and also be open for late night dining. Unfortunately, after the shooting our food court closed indefinitely and recently just opened only the seating area. I can put you in touch with our culinary team if interested. Message me at carsonc@msu.edu

——————————
Catherine Fitzpatrick
Director, MSU Union and Alumni Memorial Chapel
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI
(517) 355-3461
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2024 09:33
From: Eva Sager
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hello from SE Kansas!

Our institution is exploring relocating residence dining to the student union. Currently, we have retail in our building, and there is one all-you-can-eat traditional dining hall on campus. I understand that there are a lot of variables to consider, so I’ll try to give some rough details. Enrollment is about 5600. Dining Hall typically sees 150 (breakfast), 250 (lunch), and 250 (dinner). We currently have 7 concepts in our building. There have been 3 plans initially proposed. 1) Keep the all-you-can-eat model, relocate the dining hall into our current food court area, and create 1 to 2 other retail locations in the building. 2) Turn a lounge space into the traditional dining hall space and alter no retail space. 3) Keep retail as it currently is, add additional concepts, and do away with all-you-can-eat dining, most likely putting residence hall students on dining dollar plans instead of meal/swipe plans.

It’s very early in the process, and I am not even sure what our structural limitations are going to be, so I hesitate to ask questions without more details. However, our administration has asked that we start looking at what other institutions are doing. Specifically, if you have option 3 and feel that it works well for your institution, would you let me know? For anyone who has been through an addition of residence dining to your union space, what are some things I should be sure to ask about, especially as a newer director?

Thanks all, and my apologies for the long entry. Looking forward to hearing some responses.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————

[Eva Sager]

Catherine,

Thank you for sharing this, and I’m sorry the campus has had to live through that experience. I will reach back out if the team has more inquiries, and thank you again for taking the time to respond.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-08-2024 10:29
From: Catherine Fitzpatrick
Subject: Dining Set Ups

hi Eva. The Michigan State University Union had a model for “All-You-Care-To-Eat” within our food court. We had three self-op concepts that were all unique to MSU and we closed off one entrance to emergency exit only and created a scan entrance that would go into effect at the dinner hour and also be open for late night dining. Unfortunately, after the shooting our food court closed indefinitely and recently just opened only the seating area. I can put you in touch with our culinary team if interested. Message me at carsonc@msu.edu

——————————
Catherine Fitzpatrick
Director, MSU Union and Alumni Memorial Chapel
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI
(517) 355-3461
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2024 09:33
From: Eva Sager
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hello from SE Kansas!

Our institution is exploring relocating residence dining to the student union. Currently, we have retail in our building, and there is one all-you-can-eat traditional dining hall on campus. I understand that there are a lot of variables to consider, so I’ll try to give some rough details. Enrollment is about 5600. Dining Hall typically sees 150 (breakfast), 250 (lunch), and 250 (dinner). We currently have 7 concepts in our building. There have been 3 plans initially proposed. 1) Keep the all-you-can-eat model, relocate the dining hall into our current food court area, and create 1 to 2 other retail locations in the building. 2) Turn a lounge space into the traditional dining hall space and alter no retail space. 3) Keep retail as it currently is, add additional concepts, and do away with all-you-can-eat dining, most likely putting residence hall students on dining dollar plans instead of meal/swipe plans.

It’s very early in the process, and I am not even sure what our structural limitations are going to be, so I hesitate to ask questions without more details. However, our administration has asked that we start looking at what other institutions are doing. Specifically, if you have option 3 and feel that it works well for your institution, would you let me know? For anyone who has been through an addition of residence dining to your union space, what are some things I should be sure to ask about, especially as a newer director?

Thanks all, and my apologies for the long entry. Looking forward to hearing some responses.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————

[greenej]

When I was at USF St Pete, we had the dining hall in our student center. It was set up as one main food court location with specific zones that offered different concepts. You would then exit the food court and pay. It was cost per item and not all you can eat. ?Students would get a specific dollar amount and would spend from it. We had this model from 2012-2020 until they built a new residence hall with a more traditional all you can eat dining facility. ?I think there were pros and cons with this per item model. The big con was students weren’t great at managing the funds. ?You would see some students spend all of their money in two months, other students would have more money than they knew what to do with at the end of the semester and would go into a purchasing frenzy to spend it down because they lost it at the end of the semester. ?I think there are ways to address that such as weekly or monthly allowance, But that is the major challenge with that model. ?

I am happy to chat more if you would like, just shoot me an email and we can schedule a call.?

——————————
James Greene
Director, Plemmons Student Union
Appalachian State University
Boone NC
(828) 262-2472
Greenejj2@appstate.edu
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2024 09:33
From: Eva Sager
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hello from SE Kansas!

Our institution is exploring relocating residence dining to the student union. Currently, we have retail in our building, and there is one all-you-can-eat traditional dining hall on campus. I understand that there are a lot of variables to consider, so I’ll try to give some rough details. Enrollment is about 5600. Dining Hall typically sees 150 (breakfast), 250 (lunch), and 250 (dinner). We currently have 7 concepts in our building. There have been 3 plans initially proposed. 1) Keep the all-you-can-eat model, relocate the dining hall into our current food court area, and create 1 to 2 other retail locations in the building. 2) Turn a lounge space into the traditional dining hall space and alter no retail space. 3) Keep retail as it currently is, add additional concepts, and do away with all-you-can-eat dining, most likely putting residence hall students on dining dollar plans instead of meal/swipe plans.

It’s very early in the process, and I am not even sure what our structural limitations are going to be, so I hesitate to ask questions without more details. However, our administration has asked that we start looking at what other institutions are doing. Specifically, if you have option 3 and feel that it works well for your institution, would you let me know? For anyone who has been through an addition of residence dining to your union space, what are some things I should be sure to ask about, especially as a newer director?

Thanks all, and my apologies for the long entry. Looking forward to hearing some responses.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————

[Eva Sager]

James,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I will take this back to the team, but I might reach out later with some additional questions.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2024 11:41
From: James Greene
Subject: Dining Set Ups

When I was at USF St Pete, we had the dining hall in our student center. It was set up as one main food court location with specific zones that offered different concepts. You would then exit the food court and pay. It was cost per item and not all you can eat.  Students would get a specific dollar amount and would spend from it. We had this model from 2012-2020 until they built a new residence hall with a more traditional all you can eat dining facility.  I think there were pros and cons with this per item model. The big con was students weren’t great at managing the funds.  You would see some students spend all of their money in two months, other students would have more money than they knew what to do with at the end of the semester and would go into a purchasing frenzy to spend it down because they lost it at the end of the semester.  I think there are ways to address that such as weekly or monthly allowance, But that is the major challenge with that model.  

I am happy to chat more if you would like, just shoot me an email and we can schedule a call. 

——————————
James Greene
Director, Plemmons Student Union
Appalachian State University
Boone NC
(828) 262-2472
Greenejj2@appstate.edu
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2024 09:33
From: Eva Sager
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hello from SE Kansas!

Our institution is exploring relocating residence dining to the student union. Currently, we have retail in our building, and there is one all-you-can-eat traditional dining hall on campus. I understand that there are a lot of variables to consider, so I’ll try to give some rough details. Enrollment is about 5600. Dining Hall typically sees 150 (breakfast), 250 (lunch), and 250 (dinner). We currently have 7 concepts in our building. There have been 3 plans initially proposed. 1) Keep the all-you-can-eat model, relocate the dining hall into our current food court area, and create 1 to 2 other retail locations in the building. 2) Turn a lounge space into the traditional dining hall space and alter no retail space. 3) Keep retail as it currently is, add additional concepts, and do away with all-you-can-eat dining, most likely putting residence hall students on dining dollar plans instead of meal/swipe plans.

It’s very early in the process, and I am not even sure what our structural limitations are going to be, so I hesitate to ask questions without more details. However, our administration has asked that we start looking at what other institutions are doing. Specifically, if you have option 3 and feel that it works well for your institution, would you let me know? For anyone who has been through an addition of residence dining to your union space, what are some things I should be sure to ask about, especially as a newer director?

Thanks all, and my apologies for the long entry. Looking forward to hearing some responses.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————

[morganmeehan]

Hi Eva,

I’d share from experience in a building with both retail and one of our two ‘all-you-care-to-eat’ facilities on campus that the location of your ‘dining hall’ facility is critical. Really think about exits/access, especially if you are adding in as part of a renovation.?

What does back of house look like? Our dining hall facility is on the second floor….our pulper is on the second floor and the lines at one point ran through the bookstore…it was rough. What is below the main utilities infrastructure (mostly a consideration for plumbing)? What is adjacent to the loudest equipment in the dining hall? Ours was renovated recently and the new location for the pizza dough maker has made a meeting room really difficult to use for multiple hours during the week. Lots of loading dock and logistics to consider.

Can you secure the dining facility separately from the rest of the building? Our students really wanted late night options from the dining hall, but that can start to impact general building hours and operations if you can’t separate the dining facility from the rest of the building. Similar issues for holidays, breaks, or reduced operation incidents where the building might be in a position to close but if your only dining hall on campus is in the building you will get pressure to make sure it can stay open to serve students. If you can’t secure it separately then you’re impact more of your general operations.?

Happy to chat further about life with both options in our building! Also happy to connect you with our Auxiliary Services team that oversees the dining areas.

-Morgan

——————————
Morgan Meehan
Director, Popp Martin Student Union & Cone University Center
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte NC
(615) 714-7316
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2024 09:33
From: Eva Sager
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hello from SE Kansas!

Our institution is exploring relocating residence dining to the student union. Currently, we have retail in our building, and there is one all-you-can-eat traditional dining hall on campus. I understand that there are a lot of variables to consider, so I’ll try to give some rough details. Enrollment is about 5600. Dining Hall typically sees 150 (breakfast), 250 (lunch), and 250 (dinner). We currently have 7 concepts in our building. There have been 3 plans initially proposed. 1) Keep the all-you-can-eat model, relocate the dining hall into our current food court area, and create 1 to 2 other retail locations in the building. 2) Turn a lounge space into the traditional dining hall space and alter no retail space. 3) Keep retail as it currently is, add additional concepts, and do away with all-you-can-eat dining, most likely putting residence hall students on dining dollar plans instead of meal/swipe plans.

It’s very early in the process, and I am not even sure what our structural limitations are going to be, so I hesitate to ask questions without more details. However, our administration has asked that we start looking at what other institutions are doing. Specifically, if you have option 3 and feel that it works well for your institution, would you let me know? For anyone who has been through an addition of residence dining to your union space, what are some things I should be sure to ask about, especially as a newer director?

Thanks all, and my apologies for the long entry. Looking forward to hearing some responses.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————

[Schaf Schafsnitz]

I would like to echo the entry/exit scenario and working on the logistics of “who” oversees what areas as well! Here at Swarthmore, the college built a new dining center that connected to the old dining center and then renovated the old dining center into a student union. The only entrances into the dining center are through the student union, so we are still navigating the growing pains of myself remembering that building hours have to align with dining center operational hours (especially during breaks). We also had to clearly establish different reservation patterns for the dining center (because it’s traditional “all you can eat” buffet, and therefore meal swipes are required for spaces on that side of the building) and the student union since there’s no swipes needed. Tabling is also something we are navigating, as tabling on the student union side does NOT require swiping into the dining hall, but tabling into the breezeway of the dining hall requires a swipe.

Additionally, being mindful of any takeout procedures will impact what the trash needs of the student union are going to be (we find that folks would take their food “to go” and sit on the student union side of the building when we first opened).?

I think those are the things that come to mind initially in terms of all you can eat dining & the student union. We also have a retail operation in the student union side, but there was a dedicated entrance to the retail operation that only dining has access to, so all loading/unloading of products does not impact the student union itself.

Happy to connect, although Swarthmore is definitely a much smaller operation than what you are managing!

——————————
Schaf Schafsnitz
Associate Director for Student Life Operations
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore PA
(610) 690-5017
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-11-2024 19:15
From: Morgan Meehan
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hi Eva,

I’d share from experience in a building with both retail and one of our two ‘all-you-care-to-eat’ facilities on campus that the location of your ‘dining hall’ facility is critical. Really think about exits/access, especially if you are adding in as part of a renovation. 

What does back of house look like? Our dining hall facility is on the second floor….our pulper is on the second floor and the lines at one point ran through the bookstore…it was rough. What is below the main utilities infrastructure (mostly a consideration for plumbing)? What is adjacent to the loudest equipment in the dining hall? Ours was renovated recently and the new location for the pizza dough maker has made a meeting room really difficult to use for multiple hours during the week. Lots of loading dock and logistics to consider.

Can you secure the dining facility separately from the rest of the building? Our students really wanted late night options from the dining hall, but that can start to impact general building hours and operations if you can’t separate the dining facility from the rest of the building. Similar issues for holidays, breaks, or reduced operation incidents where the building might be in a position to close but if your only dining hall on campus is in the building you will get pressure to make sure it can stay open to serve students. If you can’t secure it separately then you’re impact more of your general operations. 

Happy to chat further about life with both options in our building! Also happy to connect you with our Auxiliary Services team that oversees the dining areas.

-Morgan

——————————
Morgan Meehan
Director, Popp Martin Student Union & Cone University Center
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte NC
(615) 714-7316
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 11-07-2024 09:33
From: Eva Sager
Subject: Dining Set Ups

Hello from SE Kansas!

Our institution is exploring relocating residence dining to the student union. Currently, we have retail in our building, and there is one all-you-can-eat traditional dining hall on campus. I understand that there are a lot of variables to consider, so I’ll try to give some rough details. Enrollment is about 5600. Dining Hall typically sees 150 (breakfast), 250 (lunch), and 250 (dinner). We currently have 7 concepts in our building. There have been 3 plans initially proposed. 1) Keep the all-you-can-eat model, relocate the dining hall into our current food court area, and create 1 to 2 other retail locations in the building. 2) Turn a lounge space into the traditional dining hall space and alter no retail space. 3) Keep retail as it currently is, add additional concepts, and do away with all-you-can-eat dining, most likely putting residence hall students on dining dollar plans instead of meal/swipe plans.

It’s very early in the process, and I am not even sure what our structural limitations are going to be, so I hesitate to ask questions without more details. However, our administration has asked that we start looking at what other institutions are doing. Specifically, if you have option 3 and feel that it works well for your institution, would you let me know? For anyone who has been through an addition of residence dining to your union space, what are some things I should be sure to ask about, especially as a newer director?

Thanks all, and my apologies for the long entry. Looking forward to hearing some responses.

Eva

——————————
Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS
(620) 235-4791
——————————