EMU food profit on the up
■ EMU food services have
had a tough time profiting
since renovations were
completed last year
By Emily Gust
Oregon Daily Emerald
You wouldn’t know it from
the full tables and the bustling
employees that The Buzz was
having any trouble making mon
ey
But what you don’t know is
that when you’re in the college
campus food service business,
breaking even means success.
“It’s become increasingly dif
ficult to break even in retail food
services on campus,” EMU Di
rector Dusty Miller said, “That’s
a nationwide trend.”
Since opening last school
year, The Buzz and the other
EMU food services have strug
gled to simply make ends meet.
During the first year of service in
a brand new facility, the food
services lost around $250,000.
Last year was so difficult,
Miller said, because as the food
court was still young, those run
ning it were not yet provided
with the necessary tools to
measure performance and make
decisions quickly. Those specif
ic tools are sheets detailing rev
enue and expense that managers
now receive daily; last year
those reports only came every
six to seven weeks.
In addition, the presence of
fewer students during the sum
mer months and breaks cut
down on potential revenue.
Add to the fact that the restau
rants are fully costed — mean
ing that each has to pay for its
own expenses such as utilities,
employee salaries and garbage
removal — and you have a chal
lenging situation.
“The full-time expenses are
always there,” Miller said.
“They don’t care whether you’re
making money or not.”
Without tools to gauge suc
cess, the managers would some
times travel along the same
paths for up to several weeks, all
the while unaware that their
H The students that
work in The Buzz have
done an awesome job
this year, working on cus
tomer service and com
ing up with good ideas to
please students.
Stephanie Winchester. .
The Buzz Manager JJ
methods may have been losing
money.
A recent turn in that trend,
however, finds the EMU food
services financial situation in
better shape. During February
this year, the food services
caught a glimpse of the previ
ously invisible: it saw a profit.
What caused this change is a
mixture of new tools to measure
success and an attempt to mar
ket the food services in a better
way.
“The bottom line is, the man
agers get a lot more information
a lot more quicker so they can
make decisions,” Miller said.
The managers now use the in
formation provided on the rev
Ryan Starkweather Emerald
The EMU food court is finally beginning to make a profit. The Greatful Bread is a
popular place to get snacks and coffee in the EMU.
enue sneets to maKe any neces
sary changes in operations, or
for reaffirmation that what they
are doing is working.
“A lot of it has to do with
staffing levels,” The Buzz man
ager Stephanie Winchester, said.
“It’s the easiest thing to change
off and on.”
In addition to the new infor
mation, marketing techniques
can claim their part of the suc
cess.
“We’ve done a much better job
marketing ourselves and listen
ing to students,” Miller said.
One of those techniques has
been creating combination deals
that offer students a discount on
certain items that are purchased
together. It seems to be working,
Miller said, because the infor
mation sheets indicate that
slightly more people are spend
ing slightly more money each
day in the EMU.
While those tools have cer
tainly had their impacts, many
people also feel that the focus on
making students comfortable
and appreciated has done a great
deal, as well.
“The students that work in
The Buzz have done an awe
some job this year, working on
customer service and coming up
with good ideas to please stu
dents,” Winchester said.
Emily Goldthwaite began
working at The Buzz last week,
and mentioned how the cafe’s
atmosphere drew her in.
“It’s a place that people like to
be and they don’t feel ignored by
the people working here,” she
said.
Because of the increased at
tention to revenue patterns and
marketing techniques, the EMU
food services has managed to do
better than in previous months.
Optimism is out there that the
path will continue to be up
ward.
“I’m confident that we will at
least continue to break even,”
Winchester said.
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