Summary 227

Further, the options to students (and others) continue to increase to include healthier eating options. Students can also purchase work supplies for studying purposes. Vending, therefore, plays an important role in the overall food service business.

Finally, there have been new developments in the way of merchandising (glass front machines), eating options (healthier foods), and quality (coffee). Guests are rarely enthusiastic about vending but the impersonal nature of the machines can be reduced by attended vending and by the environment. In some cases, vending attendants can provide change, give refunds, and handle complaints. Still, vending remains primarily a mechanical, self-service process. Further, vending is convenient, can solve economic and operational problems for building and plant managers, and can increase food service variety.

Summary

It should be clear at this point that the on-site sector is a wide-reaching and incredibly varied segment with many unique qualities. Although the host units may have a greater hold on their market because of convenience, restaurants provide a lively alternative and plenty of competition for most. In addition, on-site food service must serve the needs of both the client and the individual guest. Managed service companies have the largest market share in business and industry food service and college and university food service. On-site operators have the dominant role in health care and school food service, although contract companies’ share of those markets has been increasing. Brand-name concepts and aggressive marketing are important in all sectors

of on-site food service.

We discussed major segments and found that the largest food service program is school food service. Its long experience in serving young people and their families suggests a model for other public-sector activities. That model is based on acknowledged social need, pooling of subsidies, concentration of activity to achieve high volume, and flexible administration that permits local initiatives.

Retirement housing communities provide affluent older people with as much independence as they can manage but also afford them support, such as health care, without requiring them to move to another place. Other areas discussed were recreation, transportation (mainly airline), and a somewhat unique segment—private clubs.

Vending is an important method of delivering food service, particularly in places that are not large enough to support a full food service operation or where the investment in facilities and operating support needed by food service cannot be made.

The principal arguments regarding the choice between an institutional operation and a contract company involve questions of scale, control of operations, and management expertise.

Key Words and Concepts

1.What do on-site and commercial food services have in common? How are they different?

2.How do guest and client interests differ? What interests do they have in common?

3.Who operates the food service in your institution? Do you think an institutional operator or a managed-services company will do the best job of providing for the needs of the guest? Of the client? Why?

4.What characteristics are important to each of the four major divisions of on-site food service?

5.What opportunities do you see for extending hospitality services to the elderly? What facilities are available in your community for independent living for the aging?

6.What do you think might be some of the challenges associated with the management of a member-owned club?

7.What are the advantages and drawbacks of vending for the client? For the guest?

Internet Exercises

1.Site name: ARAMARK

URL: www.aramark.com/

Background information: ARAMARK is a global leader in professional services. They

provide food, hospitality, facility management services, and high-quality uniforms

and work apparel.

Summary 229

Site name: Compass Group

URL: www.cgnad.com/

Background information: Compass Group is one of the world’s leading food service companies. They specialize in providing food, vending, and related services on their clients’ premises in over 90 countries. They pride themselves on developing and delivering original food and service solutions whether in the workplace, schools and colleges, hospitals, at leisure, on the move, or in remote environments.

Site name: Sodexho

URL: www.sodexho.com/

Background information: Sodexho is a leading food and facilities management services company worldwide. Every day, Sodexho employees work to improve the quality of daily life for their clients and customers around the world. They offer a full range of outsourcing solutions to the corporate, health care, education, government, and defense markets.

Exercises: Review all three of the above corporate Web sites and compare each organization based on the following characteristics:

a.What markets do they serve?

b.What hospitality services do they provide?

c.What job opportunities are available to hospitality management graduates with these companies?

d.How many different countries do they serve worldwide?

e.In which country is each company headquartered?

2.Site name: The National Association of College & University Food Services

URL: www.nacufs.org

Background information: The National Association of College & University Food Ser-

Exercises:

a.Who are the primary members of these associations?

b.What are the benefits of membership in these associations?

c.What educational opportunities do they provide for members?

d.What other services do they provide for members?

e.What are the goals/mission of the association?

f.Do they list job opportunities on their Web sites? If so, what types of jobs are listed?

3.Site name: Restaurants & Institutions Magazine

URL: www.rimag.com

Background information: Restaurants & Institutions (R&I) is the leading source of vi-

tal information for the entire food service industry, covering chains, independent restaurants, hotels, and institutions. Published 24 times per year, R&I reaches over 154,000 subscribers, including executives who operate independent and chain restaurants, hospitals, colleges, schools, airline food service, and hotels/resorts, as well as dealers/distributors and consultants in the food service supplies industry.

Exercises: Click on the “Archives” link and select the most current year when a September 15 issue is available. Read the article regarding R&I’s annual report on on-site (noncommercial) food service business segments.

a.What are the current trends in on-site food service that are identified in the article?

b.What are the issues facing this segment of the food service industry and how are they similar/different from the restaurant industry?

c.Discuss what you consider to be the future direction of on-site food service in each of the four primary segments.

4.Site name: Look Smart Find Articles

URL: www.findarticles.com/

Background information: FindArticles has articles from thousands of resources, with

archives dating back to 1984. That means you get to search for exactly what you need, from millions of articles not found on any other search engine.

Exercises: Choose either health care, food service, school food service, or food service in retirement communities and use the Look Smart search engine to locate articles. Review the list of articles and choose an article to read and lead a class discussion regarding the following criteria:

a.What impact does this article have on your chosen sector of the food service industry?

b.In what ways would this article benefit managers who work in your chosen sector of the food service industry?

Summary 231

c.If you were a manager, would your behavior change as a result of reading this article?

d.What other changes, if any, do you believe will occur as a result of this article?

5.Site name: Meals on Wheels Association of America

URL: www.mowaa.org

Background information: The Meals On Wheels Association of America represents

those who provide congregate and home-delivered meal services to people in need. Their mission is to provide visionary leadership and professional training, and to develop partnerships that will ensure the provision of quality nutrition services.

Exercises:

a.What factors contribute to hunger among the elderly?

b.What is being done about hunger among the elderly?

c.What is the importance of nutrition programs for the elderly?

d.What are the benefits of belonging to this association?

Notes

1.National Restaurant Association (www.restaurant.org). Foodservice Forecast 2005.

2.Mike Buzalka, “Great Dining at a Great Workplace.” Food Management, October 2002.

3.“Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac, 2003–2004” (www.chronicle.com).

4.U.S. Department of Education. “Report on the Condition of Education,” 2002.

5.National Restaurant Association (www.restaurant.org). Foodservice Forecast 2006.

6.International Committee of Dietetic Associations (www.dietitians.ca/icda), November 10, 2003.

7.Scott Hume, “HealthCare.” Restaurants and Institutions, September 15, 2003.

8.Mike Buzalka, “Outsourced Production.” Food Management, August 2002.

9.FoodService Director, August 15, 2000, p. 44.

10.Ibid., p. 60.

11.For an authoritative, extended treatment of the school food service program, see Gordon W. Gunderson, “The National School Lunch Program: Background and Development” (www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/includes/content/NSLPBackgroundandDevelopment.htm).

12.FoodService Director, August 15, 2000, p. 55.

13.Chicago Public Schools (www.cps.edu), November 19, 2003.

14.Alison Perlik, “Schools.” Restaurants and Institutions, September 15, 2003.

15.National Center for Health Statistics, “Health, United States, 2003,” (http://www.cdc.gov/ nchs/data/hus/hus03.pdf), November 20, 2003.

16.Ibid.

17.Administration on Aging (www.aoa.dhhs.gov/oaa).

18.Joan Raymond, “Senior Living,” American Demographics, November 2000.

19.National Restaurant Association (www.restaurant.org), November 20, 2003. (Note: The figure given is for vending and non-store retailers.)

The Hospitality Industry

(Courtesy of NCR Corporation.)