Each fall, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality surveys students to
reveal what they are looking for in their dining and hospitality
experience on campus. Nearly 70,000 students—close to 70% of whom
live on campus—responded to the Aramark Collegiate Hospitality
National DiningStyles call for feedback. The 2023 data shows
interesting and exciting shifts in what students look for,
revealing a desire that aligns more with students of 20 years ago
than a mere five years ago. Additionally, the survey found that
holistic health and wellness are top of mind for students.
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Each fall, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality
surveys students to reveal what they are looking for in their
dining and hospitality experience on campus. Nearly 70,000
students—close to 70% of whom live on campus—responded to the
Aramark Collegiate Hospitality National DiningStyles call for
feedback. The 2023 data shows interesting and exciting shifts in
what students look for, revealing a desire that aligns more with
students of 20 years ago than a mere five years ago. Additionally,
the survey found that holistic health and wellness are top of mind
for students. (Photo: Business Wire)
The findings show that students do still align with their
immediate past peers in that connectivity is paramount to their
experience; they want to feel relaxed and welcome in their dining
environment. They also, however, are looking for practicality and
routine, a parallel to current nostalgia trends where association
with simplicity resonates with a generation looking to the early
2000s as a time with less social stress and pressure.
“In order to build a deep partnership with a campus, we need to
understand what students connect with emotionally, what
associations of comfort, home, and security are linked with their
hospitality experience,” said Jack Donovan, President and CEO of
Aramark Collegiate Hospitality. “We prioritize constant feedback to
do this—from on-demand Voice of Consumer surveys that students
always have access to so we know the micro pulse on campus to the
periodic and massive industry student polls that we undertake over
the course of the year. We also garner additional insights from our
discussions with our national Council of Student Advisors, our HBCU
Emerging Leaders, and other student audience groups.”
The data also revealed shared focus areas for students across
the United States. Students look to wellness practices like mindful
eating and allergen and dietary choices as priorities for their
campuses. This aligns with Collegiate Hospitality’s effort to make
sure that campuses have accessible nutritional guidance—every
student across the Aramark space has access to a registered
dietitian to learn about healthy eating and allergen solutions.
Students are also concerned with sustainable food efforts to meet
environmental and social goals, a partnership that is welcomed by
Collegiate Hospitality.
Wellness and Mindful Eating More than a third of students
related mental wellbeing to mindful eating. Students look to
protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, and fresh made-to-order foods
as their top desires on campus.
To meet this desire, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality conducts
events around the program “Take 15,” a concept that encourages
students to Take 15 minutes away from their screens to participate
in mindful eating, activity/exercise, or rest/relaxation. At a
college in New England, Aramark provides a Take 15 area in the
residential restaurant where students can relax and socialize or
participate in interactive events that highlight National Stress
Awareness Month in April with the campus dietitian, or they can
spin a wheel to win a relaxation-promoting prize.
"The Take 15 space includes board and card games, tables, and
pillows and a rug to sit on,” said Gabrielle McDonough, Registered
Dietitian for Aramark Collegiate Hospitality. “We hope that by
giving the students an actual physical area, that they are reminded
by their environment to relax and take a break."
Additionally, Eat to Excel, designed by Aramark chefs and
dietitians, is a dietary performance program designed for all
student athletes to achieve their wellness and personal goals. The
program gives students access to balanced nutrition information
through menus and an app to track and support peak performance.
Student-athletes use the “build a plate” feature during the course
of their training season to plan their meals to meet nutritive
needs.
"The Eat to Excel program has provided our student-athletes with
a lot of great information surrounding their nutrition and eating
habits,” said Halley Morrell, head coach for women’s golf at
Bradley University. “The app allows them to tailor their diet based
on their projected activity level for the day. The ease of use with
the dining halls is a big plus too!"
Allergen and Dietary Choices Thirty-six percent of the National
DiningStyles survey respondents disclosed that they had food
allergies or dietary requirements. Ingredient and nutrition
information as a range of options for special diets led to top
performance satisfaction.
Collegiate Hospitality works with an external
partner—MenuTrinfo, a nutritional food allergy consulting
company—to ensure that students and parents are assured a safe
dining experience. There are currently 123 AllerCheck™ certified
locations, the most stringent qualification from its partner.
AllerCheck™ is the first-of-its-kind audit for allergen-friendly
dining stations; each location must be audited and certified once
per semester. Additionally, all managers across all accounts are
encouraged to take AllerTrain® training.
Jenna Brott, Registered Dietitian with Collegiate Hospitality’s
West region notes, “The insights we collect are invaluable, shaping
our understanding of student dietary needs. We recognized an
opportunity to train all managers in AllerTrain®, not just those
overseeing allergen solution stations. Now, more than 8,000
managers and associates have been certified across Collegiate
Hospitality, ensuring a safer, more inclusive dining experience for
all students.”
In fact, the enterprise of Aramark prioritizes safety across
lines of business. More than 12,000 employees have been MenuTrinfo®
AllerTrain® certified, and there are about 75 Certified
Allertrainers (CATs). Aramark team members are trained to carefully
avoid cross-contact with the top nine food allergens—eggs, milk,
peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, sesame, and wheat. In
2021, Aramark became the largest food service provider to assign
accredited, third-party food allergy safety training to managers
and associates.
“With 30 dining locations, James Madison University fosters a
safe and comfortable environment for students with food allergies,”
stated Brent Beringer, District Manager for Aramark Collegiate
Hospitality. “To reduce the risk of exposure, we offer several
solutions. Our Worry-Free Zone is exclusively for students with
allergies and intolerances, we have a peanut-free and tree nut-free
pantry, and we offer gluten-free products. Both resident dining
halls feature an AllerCheck™-approved station—True Balance—and
feature Aramark’s first AllerCheck™-approved catering
team/department.”
Another step that Aramark Collegiate Hospitality has taken to
meet student needs is forming a Health and Wellness Council to
ensure that it is responding to the things that matter most to
students including food and safety communications and programming
and education. This council includes field-based registered
dietitians, culinarians, and safety experts who meet monthly to
develop educational programming and fun, informative campus events
to support student wellness needs based on field experience and
industry expertise.
Sustainability Efforts Reducing food waste, donation of surplus
food, and recycling/composting were the top three concerns for
students with regards to their campus dining sustainability
efforts.
Aramark Collegiate Hospitality drives waste minimization by
focusing on reducing, reusing, and recycling food and other waste.
The approach is aligned to the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Wasted Food Scale (formerly known as the food recovery
hierarchy). Aramark also works to continuously minimize its
footprint through waste reduction efforts, such as front and back
of house compositing, ingredient upcycling, and hosting waste
awareness events. Reducing waste is a core commitment for Aramark
and as a “Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champion," Collegiate
Hospitality, along with the enterprise, is committed to reducing
waste by 50% by 2030.
Fighting food insecurity is a key part of the partnership that
Collegiate Hospitality brings to campus, and effort that has
donated more than 730,000 pounds of surplus food and more than
60,000 meals swipes, as well as supporting more than 72 on-campus
and community gardens.
Additionally, Aramark Collegiate Hospitality is partnering with
an enterprise food service technology company with a mission to
prove that sustainability can drive positive environmental and
economic benefits for businesses. The impact is mighty: University
of Delaware using this technology alone will divert more than
40,000 containers from landfill in partnership with their campuses
(in addition to the more than 38,000 pounds of food waste on campus
that is composted!).
About Aramark Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) proudly serves the
world’s leading educational institutions, Fortune 500 companies,
world champion sports teams, prominent healthcare providers, iconic
destinations and cultural attractions, and numerous municipalities
in 15 countries around the world with food and facilities
management. Because of our hospitality culture, our employees
strive to do great things for each other, our partners, our
communities, and the planet. Aramark has been recognized on
FORTUNE’s list of “World’s Most Admired Companies,” Fair360’s “Top
50 Companies for Diversity” and “Top Companies for Supplier
Diversity,” Newsweek’s list of “America’s Most Responsible
Companies 2024,” the HRC’s “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ
Equality,” and earned a score of 100 on the Disability Equality
Index. Learn more at www.aramark.com and connect with us on
LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240521101598/en/
Heather Dotchel dotchel-heather@aramark.com 215-264-2112
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