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I chose to focus my research on the economic decisions and difficulties that come with dining services at colleges. The first article I found, from a magazine focusing on changes in the food industry, was an overview of the many changes schools had to make for the 2009-10 academic year because of the economic downturn. After reading that article, I decided to look at changes in dining services in the past two years since the downturn for a large university, Harvard, and a small liberal arts college, Grinnell. The article on Grinnell talked about the decision to consolidate two dining halls, but instead of just using one of the dining halls, the college actually built an entirely new building. I think this is actually beneficial in the long run, because they won't have to make any more changes for a long time, and they used the construction to expand their catering service and increase revenue. Alternatively, Harvard's endowment decreased by 27% over the year, and the Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) decided to eliminate the hot breakfast option. I found this information on a blog the HUDS runs as a forum for the students to contact them about dining at Harvard. The comments on the blog post about eliminating breakfast all agreed that this decision was a bad idea, citing the number of students that do use the service and the necessity of having breakfast in the morning, as nutritionists say it is the most important meal of the day.

Works Cited

Hume, Scott. “College Dining: Smart Strategies for Tough Times.” Restaurants & Institutions. Reed Buisness Information, 1 Aug. 2009. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://www.rimag.com/article/CA6674686.html?nid=4004&rid=13747304>. This article covers what many colleges are doing about food services at a time when they need to cut costs for the new academic year with the recent economic downturn. It mentions some of the schools that were forced to consolidate their dining halls, including the College of Wooster or cut meal options entirely, like Harvard University’s decision to stop offering a hot breakfast. Colleges are unsure about the number of students that are financially able to return or come to the schools and it’s affecting their ability to plan their food services before the start of the school year. Many colleges looked at cutting their associations with food service corporations such as Aramark and Sodexo, and found that making some foods from scratch actually cuts costs. These food corporations are also helping the colleges they work with by showing them discounts in food products and offering them deals. At the same time, the colleges’ dining halls are still making an effort to become more environmentally-friendly by increasing the use of on-campus farms, and offering more products in biodegradable packaging.

Mayer, Ted. “Residential Dining Changes.” Harvard University Dining Services: A Forum for Dialogue Between Students and Harvard University Dining Services’ Executive Director, Ted Mayer. Harvard University Dining Services, 11 May 2009. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://harvarddining.blogspot.com/2009/05/residential-dining-changes.html>. This is a blog post from Harvard’s Dining Services executive director, explaining the reasoning behind their decision to cut the hot breakfast service for the 2009-10 academic year. Following a need for a 7.6% decrease in food spending, the Dining Services (HUDS) chose to offer continental breakfast options because they found that only 30% of students use the hot breakfast services. The changes also affected HUDS staff, and they were offered an early retirement package. Students have the opportunity to comment at the end of the blog post, and every post is against the change, and often asks for compromises in the breakfast plan.

White, Lisa. “Grinnell’s Dining Overhall, Grinnell Iowa.” Food Service Equipment & Supplies. Reed Buisness Information, 15 Dec. 2008. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://www.fesmag.com/article/CA6617580.html>. This article, from a newsmagazine that covers new innovations or changes in the professional food industry, is about the changes Grinnell College made to their dining program for the 1500 students on campus. Grinnell had two main dining halls that needed to be consolidated in to one new building with a budget of $42 million, and the college hoped to make the new dining hall as environmentally friendly as possible. The U.S. Green Building Council approved their design and the college constructed a dining hall that would accommodate the multitude of food options the dining hall offers, from a vegan bar to a pizza area to a stir-fry wok station. They also increased their catering service, which brings in $650,000 in yearly revenue. The article also mentions that with the new facility, their equipment repair costs went from $3,500 to $18,000.