Two Key Tips To Get Students to Try New Cafeteria Items
Focus groups are an important part of Ingenious Culinary Concepts’ food service consulting program, to ensure our clients get first hand up-to-date information to increase their program’s success.
Some of the most revealing focus groups are those where we are able to provide samples of nutritional food items clients would like to introduce to the students. Typically we find that they are more likely to give us information and feedback if they have not been told they are offered in the cafeteria.
After participants devour the sample items they are asked if they liked them or if they have any suggestions on how it might be improved. Almost 100% of the time they say that they really liked them.
Then I tell them the item came from the client’s café and they are always shocked. When asked why they don’t believe these items could come from the cafeteria, they usually respond that they don’t expect the cafeteria food to taste so good.
As an advocate for a nutritional school lunch, I work diligently to educate students about the quality of the food being served and the nutritional guidelines that must be maintained. Here are several tips that you might find helpful to incorporate into your program.
1. Try giving out samples of food to students before it is on the menu. Giving out tasty samples a few days before will create a buzz.
2. Have your cafe manager meet with student organizations and let them sample new and existing offerings.
By having the students/customers take ownership during the process this will allow you to increase participation and build stronger relationships in the process.
Kern Halls, School Foodservice Consultant and Chief Innovator of Ingenious Culinary Concepts, turns empty dining halls into gold mines of student activity! By seeking out and combining just the right “ingredients” to accomplish what many call impossible: Halls gets students to “want” to dine in your cafeterias!
For his FREE report, outlining Marketing Tips to help you generate additional revenue TODAY, a $197 value, please visit http://www.ingeniouscc.com!