Topic: Food at the Joan

[chris88]

i'm guessing sodexo has first right of refusal, like most contract like that. but the plan you came up with means marshall is going to have to hire a ton more people, lose overall money for the campus food service contract guarantee, etc.

fyi, vt's awesome turkey legs are made by a company pretty much identical to sodexo.

It takes money to make money.  At some places food accounts for over 20% of stadium revenue.  You would think it would pay off in the long run.  Hard to believe the food is still so aweful.  To think MU doesn't have the power to change it, and likely make more money, is why WV is in the situation it is in IMO.

[iherdya]

It takes money to make money.  At some places food accounts for over 20% of stadium revenue.  You would think it would pay off in the long run.  Hard to believe the food is still so aweful.  To think MU doesn't have the power to change it, and likely make more money, is why WV is in the situation it is in IMO.

the food sucks for sure. if it was smarter/better/more revenue someone else would be doing it on their own, but absolutely everyone from college to nfl etc uses sodexo, centerplate, aramak, someone like that do this for them.

concessions aren't that big of a seller (i mean they are, but in the relative scheme of our athletic budget they're not). i know someone got a foia on louisville concessions a couple years ago. louisville averaged about $370,000 per home football game in total concession sales. you figure we draw half the crowd size, so $185,000 per game or $1.1m per football season in revenues. remember, that's revenue, not profit. you'd start from there and work your way down taking out the vendor's cut, the salaries needed to added several people to athletics department staff to oversee everything since sodexo is no longer doing it, costs of purchasing the pop, pretzels, etc, credit card transaction fees, etc. it adds up quickly. there's not a ton of money to be made there compared to letting sodexo handle all that and taking our 30% or whatever it is.

[Herdmeister]

the food sucks for sure. if it was smarter/better/more revenue someone else would be doing it on their own, but absolutely everyone from college to nfl etc uses sodexo, centerplate, aramak, someone like that do this for them.

concessions aren't that big of a seller (i mean they are, but in the relative scheme of our athletic budget they're not). i know someone got a foia on louisville concessions a couple years ago. louisville averaged about $370,000 per home football game in total concession sales. you figure we draw half the crowd size, so $185,000 per game or $1.1m per football season in revenues. remember, that's revenue, not profit. you'd start from there and work your way down taking out the vendor's cut, the salaries needed to added several people to athletics department staff to oversee everything since sodexo is no longer doing it, costs of purchasing the pop, pretzels, etc, credit card transaction fees, etc. it adds up quickly. there's not a ton of money to be made there compared to letting sodexo handle all that and taking our 30% or whatever it is.

Absolutely correct.
At the most Sodexo takes 40% of the money we pay for an item. Then after their expenses they give us 30% of that. Do the math. It is NOT a big revenue stream.

[svherd]

Seems to me that with us needing all the revenue we can get, Marshall should look into offering more food choices and upgrading the concession service. We know the reason it's not been a revenue gangbuster - everyone knows the food sucks. If it were better I am pretty sure revenues would increase. Jmo

[Herdmeister]

Seems to me that with us needing all the revenue we can get, Marshall should look into offering more food choices and upgrading the concession service. We know the reason it's not been a revenue gangbuster - everyone knows the food sucks. If it were better I am pretty sure revenues would increase. Jmo

Keep in mind, Sodexo has a huge MU contract with the cafeteria's and sports venues. Marshall has to look at the big picture. They must be pleased with the contract with Sodexo since it has lasted for decades.
I would assume that others have put in a bid over the years but haven't been better than the one that exists.

[goherd50]

By bidding campus cafeterias and athletics all as one contract you pretty much ensure that only a few firms will bid.  Maybe that's the most efficient way for MU (and others) to do it, but it eliminates a small outfit (with better food) who might only be interested in doing football.

[iherdya]

By bidding campus cafeterias and athletics all as one contract you pretty much ensure that only a few firms will bid.  Maybe that's the most efficient way for MU (and others) to do it, but it eliminates a small outfit (with better food) who might only be interested in doing football.

by "small outfit" you mean a restaurant, they can work with sodexo to sell foot at our games. plenty of "small" vendors do exactly that.

[MU93]

During the basketball season there was a brat and philly stand.  Who ran that?  I've never seen it at football games but that would be a welcome addition.

[coalherd]

Keep in mind, Sodexo has a huge MU contract with the cafeteria's and sports venues. Marshall has to look at the big picture. They must be pleased with the contract with Sodexo since it has lasted for decades.
I would assume that others have put in a bid over the years but haven't been better than the one that exists.

I have to wonder, has the University ever, or recently, done a survey of its on campus residence students on their opinions of the campus food service?  The quality of food?  Quantity? Value? etc., etc.  I know that some of the major review organizations of colleges and universities do rate campus food services.  A few years ago, I believe, JMU use to tout on their main web site that their campus food service program was ranked second in the nation by a Princeton University review.  Maybe the MU administration should consider this one area that needs evaluated and possibly improved as part of its efforts to grow student enrollment at the school.

I am assuming that all students living in MU's dorms are required to buy meal plans from the school.  It was that way decades ago (ugh!) and figure it hasn't changed.

[svherd]

by "small outfit" you mean a restaurant, they can work with sodexo to sell foot at our games. plenty of "small" vendors do exactly that.

Can't believe you guys have no issues with the food selection.

[Herdmeister]

Can't believe you guys have no issues with the food selection.

Other than occasional box of popcorn at a basketball game, I can't tell you how many years it has been since I have bought anything other than a soda for my girlfriend at a game.
We often go out to eat on the way to a game or after the game so no need to eat at the stadium/arena. The same goes for the venues at other schools as well.

[chris88]

For those coming from out of town/driving back same day it is an issue for FB.  A  2-3 hr drive each way + a 4 hr game doesn't leave much time for a sit down type meal before or after game....especially with traffic and wait times.  Even if I had time wouldn't it benefit MU if I spent $8-$10 a person in the stadium vs at a local restaurant?

[Thundering In MD]

The food in the Big Green Room is good IMO, but that is not what I really am looking for when I come to the Joan.

When I come into town, I want a Huntington experience.  For those of you who live in the land of milk and honey, you may not get it, but I don't necessarily want the best food.  I want a Huntington experience.  I like that Stewies and Gino's are sold at the stadium.  I just wish that the best Stewarts and Gino's were sold at the stadium.

I've given up on my memories of hot Dr. Pepper and Lemon from the 70s, but I still think that replacing Kayo's Thunder Dog with a real Stewie and offering Gino's Pizza Bread's are realistic. 

[Herdfan2005]

During the basketball season there was a brat and philly stand.  Who ran that?  I've never seen it at football games but that would be a welcome addition.

That is also ran by Sedexo

[MUther]

Other than occasional box of popcorn at a basketball game, I can't tell you how many years it has been since I have bought anything other than a soda for my girlfriend at a game.
We often go out to eat on the way to a game or after the game so no need to eat at the stadium/arena. The same goes for the venues at other schools as well.

Isn't that the point, though?  If the food was better, I mean like a meal not a snack better, you wouldn't occasionally eat at the stadium?  We went to a Steeler's game last year and they had amazing choices.  The only thing bad about their food was deciding what to try.  And with beer sales in stadium now, there are likely gonna be people that want a decent sandwich or dog to go along with it.  Like when you see the guys at big venues grab a large sausage or brat and throw on a giant bun and then get a tong full of peppers and onions and start loading that puppy up.  Or some pulled chicken/pork etc. 

Just because we are using Sodexo, doesn't mean they can't change our menu around and offer better quality.  They don't because they don't have to.  If they don't sell a gd thing for a season, they might change their minds. 

I don't understand why we'd have to spend a ton of money to do it ourselves.  Let everything sold be contracted out on bid.  Then you just need a coordination team to keep track of license and collect our portion.  The sales would be staffed by each bidders employees.  Right now Sodexo is employing people to do this and charging us for them, too.  Anytime there is a middle man, the middle man is getting the bulk of the profit.  That money would be better split between the food producers and the school.

[iherdya]

Isn't that the point, though?  If the food was better, I mean like a meal not a snack better, you wouldn't occasionally eat at the stadium?  We went to a Steeler's game last year and they had amazing choices.  The only thing bad about their food was deciding what to try.  And with beer sales in stadium now, there are likely gonna be people that want a decent sandwich or dog to go along with it.  Like when you see the guys at big venues grab a large sausage or brat and throw on a giant bun and then get a tong full of peppers and onions and start loading that puppy up.  Or some pulled chicken/pork etc. 

Just because we are using Sodexo, doesn't mean they can't change our menu around and offer better quality.  They don't because they don't have to.  If they don't sell a gd thing for a season, they might change their minds. 

I don't understand why we'd have to spend a ton of money to do it ourselves.  Let everything sold be contracted out on bid.  Then you just need a coordination team to keep track of license and collect our portion.  The sales would be staffed by each bidders employees.  Right now Sodexo is employing people to do this and charging us for them, too.  Anytime there is a middle man, the middle man is getting the bulk of the profit.  That money would be better split between the food producers and the school.

honest question, if your solution was such a financial windfall as you suggest (us getting more of the profit) why does literally no other fbs or nfl team do that? texas makes money hand over fist, but uses sodexo.

there just isn't enough money in it to go that route. we'd have to hire people to oversee the contract/financial part of it, we'd have to hire people to prep, cook, and serve all of the big green room and suites, we'd have to hire people to run around making sure things are going smoothly at all the concession stands on game day, etc.

of course, this is all assuming that we have enough restaurants that'd be willing to pay whatever fees/% we ask for to setup a concession stand. considering, that anyone other than a hot dog or pizza vendor is free to do so these days and no one has, i'd say they just might not be that interested.

the solution to our crap food situation isn't to do something no one else is even doing, it's to open up our contract the next time it's up and encourage centerplate and others to bid against sodexo to get the best possible outcome.

[chris88]

Texas and others do use Sedexo but i'm quite sure they aren't serving bad boxed pizza as their feature menu item.  This goes to the point that, even with Sedexo, MU has the power to do better and chooses not to.  It's not rocket science. It's just lack of business acumen or being adverse to risk/creativity.  BTW, many pro vendor stations are staffed by volunteers who keep the tips for their org.  It may even be that way at MU as I don't recall the people wearing Sedexo uniforms/badges.  And if the food is better in the Big Green room, does that mean MU is losing money on the BG room?  I doubt it.

[iherdya]

Texas and others do use Sedexo but i'm quite sure they aren't serving bad boxed pizza as their feature menu item.  This goes to the point that, even with Sedexo, MU has the power to do better and chooses not to.  It's not rocket science. It's just lack of business acumen or being adverse to risk/creativity.  BTW, many pro vendor stations are staffed by volunteers who keep the tips for their org.  It may even be that way at MU as I don't recall the people wearing Sedexo uniforms/badges.  And if the food is better in the Big Green room, does that mean MU is losing money on the BG room?  I doubt it.

most of our concessions are staffed with volunteers. sodexo has several people though overseeing things because ultimately they're responsible for those concessions, if we ditched sodexo we'd have that responsibility on our laps.

i'm genuinely curious how you think marshall lacks business acumen or being adverse to risk or creativity here?

[chris88]

Go to Sedexo's website and you will find that can offer just about anything.

MU should simply have a meeting and say:  our stadium food sucks and want to upgrade it with the goal of offering more things and also increasing revenue.  We want to know what other schools are doing and use them as a model.  We would like to do it gradually over a 2-3 yr period.  We also want to use fan feedback.  Then have a list of some "must have" pieces....like 2-3 things people could consider as a meal etc.  You might say, "how do you know MU hasn't done that".  My answer is: since MU has literally made very few changes over last 30 years they haven't tried very hard.

In my mind, I see no reason why concessions should not be able to do a Costco type concession.  They have a track oven.  They offer pizza by the slice or whole pizza, hot dogs, a ciabatta (sp) bread turkey sandwich, a churro pretzel, 3 flavors of yogurt (an ice cream type yogurt machine), soft drinks and a few other things.  The food quality is all top notch. All contained in an area approx. the same size as the current stadium vending booths.

[iherdya]

Go to Sedexo's website and you will find that can offer just about anything.

MU should simply have a meeting and say:  our stadium food sucks and want to upgrade it with the goal of offering more things and also increasing revenue.  We want to know what other schools are doing and use them as a model.  We would like to do it gradually over a 2-3 yr period.  We also want to use fan feedback.  Then have a list of some "must have" pieces....like 2-3 things people could consider as a meal etc.  You might say, "how do you know MU hasn't done that".  My answer is: since MU has literally made very few changes over last 30 years they haven't tried very hard.

In my mind, I see no reason why concessions should not be able to do a Costco type concession.  They have a track oven.  They offer pizza by the slice or whole pizza, hot dogs, a ciabatta (sp) bread turkey sandwich, a churro pretzel, 3 flavors of yogurt (an ice cream type yogurt machine), soft drinks and a few other things.  The food quality is all top notch. All contained in an area approx. the same size as the current stadium vending booths.

what if sodexo said no to our requests?

edit to add: costco food is great, that'd be a wonderful option. of course those pizza ovens run $10k or more each and our current facilities for concessions do not allow for actual cooking in them and require a substantial renovation to set them up to allow that.

[iherdya]

here's the real issue, the concessions food is just a throw-in. sodexo's real money maker is the right to handle all food service for the entire campus. that's where they make their money. i don't think i've ever seen a questionnaire regarding athletic concessions, but i do know they do several for campus wide food service. if the feedback in those questionnaires is positive the university will have no real reason to switch from sodexo.

i think we have a couple years left on our deal with them, i do wish mike and the athletic department would speak with the individuals on main campus about our concessions food. i do wish main campus would listen to them and put sodexo on notice that we'd like to see improvements to concessions food or we'll open up bidding in a couple years instead of just automatically renewing with them. but, the problem is athletics have very little leverage with sodexo because the concessions for athletics is just a small part of the whole operation, and most importantly a small part of revenues sodexo is generating. if main campus is happy with the service sodexo is providing to the major parts of the deal, the feedback campus wide is mostly positive, there's very little incentive or reason for them to do anything but continue with sodexo in the future.

[sardistim]

Texas and others do use Sedexo but i'm quite sure they aren't serving bad boxed pizza as their feature menu item.  This goes to the point that, even with Sedexo, MU has the power to do better and chooses not to.  It's not rocket science. It's just lack of business acumen or being adverse to risk/creativity.  BTW, many pro vendor stations are staffed by volunteers who keep the tips for their org.  It may even be that way at MU as I don't recall the people wearing Sedexo uniforms/badges.  And if the food is better in the Big Green room, does that mean MU is losing money on the BG room?  I doubt it.

I helped set up my kids' high school to run a stand at Panthers' games.  We worked with a national company (not Sedexo) that handled every aspect of concessions at the Panthers' stadium, even for non-NFL games.  We were paid a % of profit and then kept all of our tips.  Had to have several point persons who went through training, then they trained the workers on gameday.  The company handled vendor quality control and would check with our point persons on product quality.  Changes in food offered through vendors was made by the company handling all the concessions -- including the cart vendors.  I would have to believe Sedexo's contract with MU works in a similar way.  (BTW, we make about $22-25K for a 14-15 game season -- a nice cash flow for high school athletics).

[svherd]

here's the real issue, the concessions food is just a throw-in. sodexo's real money maker is the right to handle all food service for the entire campus. that's where they make their money. i don't think i've ever seen a questionnaire regarding athletic concessions, but i do know they do several for campus wide food service. if the feedback in those questionnaires is positive the university will have no real reason to switch from sodexo.

i think we have a couple years left on our deal with them, i do wish mike and the athletic department would speak with the individuals on main campus about our concessions food. i do wish main campus would listen to them and put sodexo on notice that we'd like to see improvements to concessions food or we'll open up bidding in a couple years instead of just automatically renewing with them. but, the problem is athletics have very little leverage with sodexo because the concessions for athletics is just a small part of the whole operation, and most importantly a small part of revenues sodexo is generating. if main campus is happy with the service sodexo is providing to the major parts of the deal, the feedback campus wide is mostly positive, there's very little incentive or reason for them to do anything but continue with sodexo in the future.

I would find it hard to believe that all the entities on campus that deal with Sodexo and food service in general don't meet a few times a year to make sure each person/department has no issues, or if they do, work together to get them resolved. Leverage the collective body. It's not rocket science. Sometimes I really think those at MU only do what is required just to make sure they keep a job.

[iherdya]

I would find it hard to believe that all the entities on campus that deal with Sodexo and food service in general don't meet a few times a year to make sure each person/department has no issues, or if they do, work together to get them resolved. Leverage the collective body. It's not rocket science. Sometimes I really think those at MU only do what is required just to make sure they keep a job.

a few times a year probably not, once a year most likely.

[chris88]

I helped set up my kids' high school to run a stand at Panthers' games.  We worked with a national company (not Sedexo) that handled every aspect of concessions at the Panthers' stadium, even for non-NFL games.  We were paid a % of profit and then kept all of our tips.  Had to have several point persons who went through training, then they trained the workers on gameday.  The company handled vendor quality control and would check with our point persons on product quality.  Changes in food offered through vendors was made by the company handling all the concessions -- including the cart vendors.  I would have to believe Sedexo's contract with MU works in a similar way.  (BTW, we make about $22-25K for a 14-15 game season -- a nice cash flow for high school athletics).

Exactly!  It's not reinventing the wheel.  There can be no logical reason that MU has literally the worst concession food/options I've seen anywhere

And I submit it likely has very little to do with Sedexo....as they work with thousands of org's....so it isn't like good food isn't available.  Heck, Sedexo is putting an Aunt Annies sampler in Liberty University Library.