Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW FALL 2015 BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW
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BGSU DINING semiannual MARKETING REVIEW FALL 2015 BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW FALL VOLUNTARY MEAL PLAN SALES Includes Commuter Plan Promotion, Faculty & Staff Promotion, and Falcon Dollar Recharge Campaign 341 block meal plans were sold fall semester = $88,935 up 7% from last year $144,260 Falcon Dollars were sold fall semester = up 5% from last year SOCIAL MEDIA EXPANSION Social Media outlets have made many increases during the 2015 fall semester Twitter | 34% increase in followers from one year prior BGSU Dining has also begun sharing many of our events with students via Periscope Facebook | 8% increase in likes from last academic year and Vine. This app can live stream events straight to YouTube Videos | 931 views during Fall semester students from the ease of their smartphone and has a growing population. Tailgate Thursday has had some great success Instagram | 80% increase in followers from one year prior with Periscope with the BGSU High Flyers as well as the BGSU Offensive Line pie eating contest. We hope to Dine on Campus Website | Average views/month: 100,538 expand the use of Periscope throughout spring semester. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS Once again customer satisfaction surveys were conducted at the Falcon’s Nest, the Oaks and Carillon Place dining centers, and the Kreischer Sundial. Tables were set up with a few different giveaways to encourage students to participate. There were 1,255 surveys filled out and Dining received an overall 4.13 Very Good satisfaction score. A 6% improvement year over year. DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS DEPARTMENT Click here for full report. BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW TAILGATE THURSDAY In partnership with BGSU Athletics, Tailgate Thursday is a weekly event with one goal in mind: get students excited about upcoming athletic events. Promotion of Tailgate Thursday focused around creating excitement across campus through extensive social media coordination, personal interactions with staff/students, and a stocked event calendar. Every week, our chefs at the Oaks designed a dinner menu with a game-day theme, with menu items ranging from nachos to baked beans and everything in between. BGSU Athletics helped immensely in creating a dynamic schedule for each and every week. Different teams, like the BGSU High Flyers, the football team, basketball team and more, provided entertainment for the event. Every Thursday, the Oaks is packed with students and bursting with school spirit! Due to the success of Tailgate Thursday this past semester, BGSU Dining and BGSU Athletics will continue into spring semester and hope to make this a legacy event. FARMER’S MARKET/HEALTH FAIR The 6th Annual Local Produce Market took place in the BTSU Ballroom in partnership with the BGSU Health Fair. The event was free to BGSU students, faculty/staff, community members and hosted local vendors that sold everything from local popcorn to goat cheese made just down the road. Once again, this event was meal plan friendly to help encourage students to partake in the festivities. Executive Chef Marissa Riffle and other culinary staff Click here for the Farmer’s Market Highlight video. answered questions about fun and tasty ways to prepare the fresh produce as well as a few tasty treats for customers. The health fair provided interactive health and wellness displays, food samples, raffles and more. BGSU Dining’s dietitian Daria Blachowski-Dreyer provided information about the importance of reading and understanding nutrition labels. DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS DEPARTMENT BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW FAMILY WEEKEND BGSU Dining invited falcon families from all over the nation to join their students at dining locations for a special breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Besides the many jokes of the students finally picking up the check on behalf of the family, praises of our staff and culinary offerings could be heard in all of our locations. Along with these meals, a special family day brunch was served at The Oaks with great turn out (partly due to the made to order omelet station!). In a collaboration with the Office of Campus Activities, BGSU Dining sold 397 Family Weekend Brunch tickets. NATIVE AMERICAN LUNCH AT THE OAKS In collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Oaks Dining Center helped celebrate National Native American Heritage Month. Transforming each station at the Oaks, Chef Joel created authentic Native American meals to be shared with students, faculty/staff and the community. Along with sharing great food, another goal of this meal was to educate patrons. The Office of Multicultural Affairs helped provide a great deal of educational resources that were shared at each station as well as digital signage throughout BGSU Dining’s LCD network. PROJECT CLEAN PLATE This semester’s Project Clean Plate was a great example of the value of student and staff interactions. Working with both student volunteers as well as our staff help educate students about the effects and costs of food waste. Over the eight weeks of the program, Project Clean Plate helped reduce food waste by 1,300 pounds in the Oaks and Carillon Place. BGSU Dining is excited to continue Project Clean Plate in the spring semester and continue to help donate to the United Way on behalf of all BGSU Faculty/Staff and Students for every pound of food waste reduced. DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS DEPARTMENT BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW NEW CONCEPTS AT KREISCHER The Sundial at Kreischer received quite a flavor makeover thispast semester. Along with a facelift in color and design, Kreischer has added two new concepts to help with the growing demand for diverse food options. Smokin’ Jalapeños (a burrito and Latin cuisine concept) and Paninos (a custom panini concept) opened with great response by students! Menu items like traditional Italian paninis and tasty burrito bowls have helped with an increase cash sales of over 19%. AYCE PROMOTION Reaching out to the community is an important aspect of our sales for the Oaks and Carillon Place. BGSU Dining used multiple avenues to reach out to Faculty/Staff and Community members including; poster drop off to local business, newspaper ads in the Sentinel Tribune, and outreach at multiple community events. Through constant communication and connections made with off campus partners, cash sales are up $6,900 from the previous year at AYCE locations. MIDNIGHT BREAKFAST 1,355 Students met at the Oaks for some late night breakfast food, making it one of our most popular events again this year. Students took a much needed study break and had an extremely wide variety of breakfast items to choose from. The line for this event extended far past the doors and onto the front lawn of the Oaks as student clamored to get in. This past Midnight Breakfast was one of the best BGSU Dining has ever had and The Oaks staff is already brainstorming on how to make it even better! In addition to the great turn out, this event helped generate $10,826 in DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS DEPARTMENT increased revenue. BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW BIG BASH MOVIE NIGHT AT THE OAKS In collaboration with our The Oaks hosted a movie night that gave students an partner Coca-Cola®, BGSU opportunity for a study break or date night. Students voted Dining kicked off the fall from a list of five preselected movies and “Anchorman” semester with the Big Bash was far and away the winner! The glow of the screen on the at the Oaks! This festival- “Mac Beach” lawn illuminated more than100 students, both inspired lunch with games, relaxing on the grass and in their rooms, who watched and prizes, inflatables, a DJ and laughed into the night. Late-night snacks were provided more completely filled the front lawn with laughter and after the movie at Midnight Munchies at The Oaks, with fun. Students bounced off “Meltdown” and challenged special extended hours. Over the course of the movie BGSU Women’s Soccer players to a shootout for prizes and and Midnight Munchies, $1,269 of increased sales were bragging rights! The Big Bash was a great success with an recorded. increase in sales of $3,524 for the day from the previous year. HALLOWEEN HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH LUNCHES - When it comes to COLLABORATION Halloween, BGSU Dining Carillon Place hosted weekly lunches during Fridays in goes all out! Each of September to help lend focus to Hispanic Heritage Month. our dining locations Students had the opportunity to celebrate and learn about pick a theme, and this the heritage of Hispanic and Latino culture with meals year they got extra inspired from the rich traditions of Latin and South America. creative. The challenge Click here for the Halloween Highlight video. Along with great tasting food, information about each of creating something item was featured to help educate students. Menu items new to excite students is always a challenge our staff is included Cuban pork roast happy to accept. Some themes this year included: Where’s with chimichurri, fried plantain Waldo this Halloween?, Punkin Chunkin’, Killer Circus, Mortal chips, empanada pizza with Kombat and The Walking Dead. Students were spooked to chorizo, and much more. An say the least! The Oaks received special attention for their average of 521 customers Pumpkin Chunker and the Univeristy of Toledo target that every lunch joined Carillon happened to get in its way. A special video was created Place over the course of and shared through BGSU Dining social media channels Hispanic Heritage Month lunch and across campus. EVENTS hour events. BGSU DINING Semiannual MARKETING REVIEW OUTTAKES WIZARD OF OZ holiday favorites including carved honey ham, sweet Students saw flying potato casserole, and monkeys, Dorothy, the peppermint cheesecake. Wicked Witch, and Toto BGSU Dining’s staff helped too during the Halloween transform each location festivities at each of the into a decorated wonder.