Food User Group
Minutes
Thursday March 21st, 2013
1:00pm – 2:30pm
AA160
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Attendance:
Fran Wdowczyk, Office of Business Development
Shonagh Crawford, Special Projects Office of Business & Administration
Frank Peruzzi, Project Coordinator Food Services
Mohsin Jeelani, Project Coordinator, One Card
Emzhei Chen, Coordinator Campus Life and Special Events
Adriana Koufis, Staff Representative from Dept. of Physical & Environmental Sciences
Indy Karu, Food Services Director of Aramark LTD
Davitre Somar, Catering Assistant Manager, Aramark LTD
Michelle Verbrugghe, Director Student Housing and Residence Life
Tom Snell, Manager Finance & Initiatives, Student Housing and Residence Life
Abdalla Al-Baalawy, President SCSU
Amir Bashir, Executive Director SCSU
Absent:
Deborah Hahn, Assistant Director, Business Development Retail & Conference Services
Jananie Manoharan, Health and Wellness representative
Sangeeta Acharya, Lead Academic Programmer and Promoter, Student Housing & Residence Life
Khalil, First Year Resident Student
Wynona Bardgett, Retail & Conference Services
Kavita Siewrattan, Vice President Students and Equity for SCSU
1. Welcome & Introductions
Technically the last meeting of the term to wrap up business and talk about issues that have come up during the year.
2. Update from the Director of Business Development & Special Advisor to CAO
a) Membership
· September will be an issue. Members for the fall will need to be adjusted. Shonagh will send out a doodle poll for a June meeting. Shonagh will also update the membership and will circulate an email. Gulded noted that he was the new member for Kavita. George is back from sabbatical – sends his regrets and is anxious to meet with us again
· Fran thanked everyone for being apart of the committee and the invaluable contribution. She noted the changes from this year; Frank and Mohsin have moved to the one card file, Davitre has joined us and many more opportunities to grow.
· The campus is growing and overall student satisfaction generally is good but with increased success. 2 new outlets have popped up: The Tea Trolley late night delivery service. They take orders through phone and have been advertising through Facebook. They have to be either across the street or on campus. They start at 9pm and will also do McDonalds runs. Still looking into it, but don’t’ see any big problems (aside from alcohol delivery). Mostly geared to residence, so Michelle Verbrugghe is going to review and look around. Freedom Lunch – Only deliver to UTSC who reaching out to them. UTSC has been very proud that we allow off campus vendors to come onto campus to service. A little less concerned about this one. Both should come back to the June meeting for discussions. Its important to keep a variety of foods open to our students. As an institution we need to be very aware of food handling on campus and food safety. Hilda reiterated if you are planning an event to talk to Hilda or Frank
2. Business Arising from the Minutes
a. What to Eat App (Frank Peruzzi)
Met with Neil – trying to get the app to work with apple as well as android, no conversation as to continuing update to follow with meeting. It was asked about a launch date – Frank noted that once they feel comfortable it will be launched. Perhaps in the fall with One Card with some beta testing this summer
b. One card Update (Frank Perruzi and Moshin Jeelani)
At the moment we are having technical issues – servers with IITS, continue to meet with blackboard on various aspects of the program – ie. Student websites working on the website – temporary can provide updates
Program information working on the website working with communications – this will be a big change for upper year students should have a strategy for April. Meal Plan - trying to offer more bonus dollars or bonus bucks if they sign up by a certain date. Continuing to present to different departments – letting them know about what is coming down, changes etc.
Met with a privacy officer – making sure we are meeting the privacy requirements and meeting with Accessability on Monday to make sure the card readers are accessible. Will attend a conference in April for all those who are using the program. Will get tips, info on what to do etc. Continue to be on track for June for a soft launch, readers ready. Will give cards to sample so we can test the program. It will officially launch in September. Clarification was on the T-Card being accessible for visiting professors. It was noted they needed to get their T-Card then could load it or can use a Guest Card
4. General business
a. SCSU food outlets update (Amir Bashir)
· One day program for all food vendors in the food court to highlight some of the lesser known items. Coupons were given to student population – great response and increase in sales
· Rex – increased events and bookings. Delivery delayed – no charge for delivery (In Residence). You can order online to 3pm – 7pm.
· Michelle V. noted she would like to be involved in the delivery program
· Future events include coupons outside Bwing – blended with some advocacy work
· Not on events listing – as an initial idea was for students by students
b. Update on Food Initiatives (Frank Peruzzi)
· Staff and Faculty lunch – fratellis
· Idea: Pancakes inititative – looking at offereing pancake breakfast during the exam period. Aramark cover morning, Rex’s late night or student centre. Coming soon.
· Met with many departments about summer plans so we can put together a package for food options.
· Good customer service we need to coordinate more with Rex’s
· Was at a meeting – pitching a smoothy option to Rex’s or treats. More can diversify the better. Aramark might do ice cream
c. Update from Aramark (Indy Karu)
· Davitre is catering and business is going well, a few events like the Science fair, get started, in June and April. Working with Hilda on a few events. Nadia (office of sustainability) came to use the kitchen, chili, bread, apple crisp, Nadia has a big thank you for the help. One of Aramark chefs really pitched in and helped with the cooking. Very successful – very limited marketing (facebook, a few posters, don’t have final wrap up but overall went well)
· Tims in the Meeting place – credit card system now in place
· Bladen Tim Hortons – the line ups are moving faster. Getting calls from other Universities. Sales have gone up 20%
· This summer shwarma
· BBQ outside – 100% halal burgers every Wednesday (veggie & Lots of options)
· Doing a lot of promos (kelloggs, pepsi, coke, every month generally do 4 promotions)
· Hilda noted that the BBQ pit on HWing Patio needs to be booked
d. Food and Beverage Website (Shonagh Crawford)
· Will launch shortly
5. Sub-Committee Selection Process/Updates
a. Survey sub-committee
upcoming academic year – food survey for students needs to be run
b. Catering (Adriana Koufis)
Website – pull down catering menu
Catering trade show – mid may – bring in food with all vendors on campus located in HW 305
c. Residence Committee (Fran Wdowczyk)
Meld into the one card meetings. Michelle and Tom to comment with any updates, issues or concerns – looking forward to focus groups by connecting with different types of users. Really looking to connect with student leaders if they are using “outside” services just make sure they are safe. Michelle V to follow up. One card – update on rentals for readers
6. New Business
Focus Groups – Mohsin Jeelani noted Looking at hosting 3 focus groups – feedback from students regarding food
Students don’t always do a survey, heading into RFP for main provider – going out in the summer- scored late September or early October. This committee will act as a scoring committee for presentation – will be inviting other specific groups, faculty, grad. Need to be identified important that we are ready for this – the data for the last 2 surveys and the focus groups results all go to the RFP so they can see what we have. We’ll share the data once it’s all collected at the end of the summer. People appreciated the food reports so they knew where to focus. Also will do a summer session. Some questions may relate to potential new Residence – at this point the RFP will also include new dining hall business
Looking at Hakka food (Tangerine or lucky Fredericks)
Events – Hilda reminded groups if they are having an event to catering please go through hilda or frank so invoicing is clear. What can be provided and how to meet your needs – one of the questions should bew have you connected with Emzhie for students or Hilda is for faculty and staff. Hilda reiterated all other charges associated with catering like linens, plates, cutlery etc.
Abdella asked what is open late – In the past Tim Horton’s’ has been open until 12am, with the take 10 idea. Looking at exam schedules for the vendors open before and after. Need to do marketing to drive people to the vendors. Chosen not to have Aramark open past 12am. Take 10 helps try a variety of vending and continue to do head counts to figure out what people really want – maybe a food truck first 2 weeks – full traffic at SCSU food stand
New microwaves are on campus. All of the broken ones have been removed
Fran is to meet with Abdalla to discuss different locations for the microwaves
7. Next Meeting date TBD - JUNE