Business Proposal

Our research provides clear solutions to an inefficient approach to on-campus dining at Westminster College. Shaw’s business proposal proves my ability to identify issues, collect data and interview people in order to come up with credible solutions in a professional business format. I worked within a team to complete these tasks and together we aimed to resolve issues surrounding Shaw Dining Hall. 

Executive summary

Our mission is to make Shaw Dining Hall an accessible and enjoyable experience for all students. Our vision provides students with affordable meals and an additional hour of operation at Shaw.

It is our goal to make Shaw Dining Hall more available to students who are in class during the 7 p.m. closing of Shaw. We recommend closing Shaw at 8:30 or 9 p.m. so that students have time to use their meal plan for dinner. Through our research, we found that 75% of students who responded would prefer to pick up dinner from Shaw between 7 and 8 p.m.

Making food affordable for students on a meal plan, or a budget, is another key issue we aim to address. Having to-go containers as opposed to throwing food out will not only eliminate the amount of food waste, but also eliminate additional trash bags and cleaning supplies used. In effect, we hope to lower the prices of food at Shaw. By eliminating 1-2 of the existing stations and lowering the prices of meals on the remaining options, students would be able to afford more food options.

Problems

It is a common worry from the student body that Shaw Dining Hall is not as accessible as it could be. Through our research, we identified it is not accessible because of barriers like hours of operations, cost, and food options.

Students find it difficult to get dinner from Shaw before it closes at 7 p.m. Mostly because they are in class during that time or just getting out of class. After surveying students, we found that 75% of respondents would prefer to eat dinner at Shaw from 7 to 8 p.m.

The price markup for food items in Shaw has increased throughout the years and has been a growing problem for on and off campus students. Of the survey respondents, 40% of students with meal plans don’t have the funds to last them the entire semester. On top of that, another 20% of students in their first semester aren’t certain their meal plan will last them to the end of the school year.

Research Conclusions

For our research we conducted market price investigation, interviews with staff at Bon Appetit, Glenn Smith, students, and conducted some online comparisons to another similar sized college. We collected all of our data from these avenues. A few overlapping issues we discovered are as follows.

  • There seems to be a decent amount of food waste estimated at 25%.

  • While members of staff enjoy working at Bon Appetit, they generally feel understaffed.
  • Employees are willing to shift hours and work later to about 8 p.m.

  • The survey found that most students eat dinner at 7 or 8 p.m.
  • 66% of the students that responded have a meal plan and of those respondents 25% run out of food.

  • 66% of respondents feel that the food at Bon Appetit is overpriced.
  • One student interview concluded that over the last year there was a 100% markup on food in Shaw and Bon appetit.

  • 28.6% of respondents eat at Shaw 3-4 times per week.

Solutions

  • Shaw should use to-go containers to store the food that will be thrown out for the night. Placing food in containers as opposed to throwing it out will not only eliminate the amount of food thrown away at the end of the night but also eliminate the amount of trash bags and cleaning supplies used to clean up this waste. This will also address the issue of students not being able to receive dinner past 7 p.m. and will not require staff to stay later.

  • Shaw and Bon Appetit should look into which stations of the cafeteria are used least often. While it is great to have variety, many students have a hard time affording any of the choices currently. If Shaw can eliminate 1-2 of the existing stations and lower the prices of meals on the remaining options students would be able to afford more food options, mitigating the obstacle of running out of funds before the end of the semester. It is important to note that if this option is chosen, students with dietary restrictions need to have at least one option for lunch that meets their dietary needs.

  • Another recommendation we offer Bon Appetit is to possibly hire more staff or extend the shifts of workers to allow Shaw to be open until 8:30pm. The majority of our survey respondents said they eat dinner between 7pm-9pm. Closing at 8:30 p.m. will allow students who get out of class at 7:50 p.m. to rush over and have dinner.

    • Lastly, we recommend evaluating if there are any items that can either be terminated or found at a lower cost to reduce markups over 200% in Shaw. Not only does this cause some resentment from students at these prices, but lowering them would probably increase the number of students purchasing items all together.

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