Damon's Grill Or Bust!

In Geezerville, where I live, there are two restaurants on the two golf courses in this geriatric equivalent of Heaven on earth. Both of the restaurants has lost money since Day One. The current developer (known to me as GBC — Godless [Blank] Corporation) has grown weary of listening to all of the geezer cries of outrage over the constant annual shortfall in the two food & beverage outlets in Geezerville. So, the so-called Community Association Board of Directors (3 upper-level employees of the GBC and two geezer residents) created a search committee to find a food & beverage manager for the Geezerville establishments. Lo, and behold, the CA Board of Directors announced that the winner of the food & beverage sweepstakes was the food-service contractor, Sodexho USA. What the hell does "Sodexho" mean? These days any reference to "ho" is considered offensive. In any event, Sodexho USA has turned the food & beverage operation at both George Mason University (the cinderella school in the most recent March Madness) and Auburn University. On top of that, the operator chosen by Sodexho is not a purveyor of cafeteria fare! Be still my heart! Can Geezerville expect a swank, trendy, sports-themed restaurant on one of its golf courses and an equally swank, trendy restaurant on the other course as well? Geezers here will love a "Damon's Mean Green Tea, a mixture of rum, vodka, Sprite and a few other liquors." Just what every geezer needs on a warm day in the Texas Hill Country. If this is (fair & balanced) commercialism, so be it.

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A Menu for Change: George Mason U. turns to a brand-name, full-service restaurant to keep dining dollars on the campus
By Audrey Williams June

Fairfax, VA

George Mason University had a problem. Its main food court, inside the Johnson Center, was often jammed with people. Rather than wait in winding lines to get a slice of pizza, an order of curried chicken, or a sandwich, some students left the campus, in a suburb of Washington, in search of similar fare at local fast-food restaurants.

Meanwhile, a handful of food outlets clustered in the bottom floor of a nearby student union saw hardly any traffic at all. George Mason officials realized that they could ease congestion at the Johnson Center if they provided an attractive alternative elsewhere on the campus.

Enter Damon's Grill, a widely known sports-themed restaurant chain that had never done business on a college campus until it opened a branch last fall in George Mason's student union. Here, as it usually is elsewhere, Damon's is a full-service operation, with the chain's signature ribs and such items as grilled ahi tuna, filet mignon, and a porterhouse pork chop, served amid giant video screens. A full bar in the 6,000-square-foot restaurant — slightly smaller than most Damon's — features drinks like Damon's Mean Green Tea, a mixture of rum, vodka, Sprite and a few other liquors.

"I have no doubt that our students eat meals off campus," says Maurice W. Scherrens, senior vice president, "but at least they have options here."

The route taken by George Mason and its food-service contractor, Sodexho USA, the franchisee, to turn a not-so-popular student union into a destination reflects the attention that institutions are paying to students' rapidly changing tastes in food, how it's served, and the atmosphere in which it's consumed. Auxiliary operations, especially food services, are important sources of revenue for most colleges. And in a competitive market for students, the quality of food offered on campus matters.

So over the past two decades or so, drab dining halls with set hours and food offerings have given way to food courts, all-night diners, and chefs who cook made-to-order items before students' eyes. Accommodating meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans all at once is now the norm. And although fast-food options are easy to find on many campuses — even in libraries and other formerly food-free areas — so is Mediterranean, Southeast Asian, and Latin food.

These days, campus-dining officials say, students' expectations for food have been raised by their experiences dining out at restaurants with table service, slick menus, and multiple video screens. In response, a variety of full-service restaurants, most of them casual, have opened on college campuses. Campus food-service professionals believe that George Mason is the first university with a brand-name, full-service, casual-dining restaurant. And there are early indications that other colleges may follow.

"Colleges are seeing that many nontraditional students, faculty, and staff aren't bound to the campus by the meal plan," says Jodi Smith, marketing manager for the National Association of College & University Food Services. "So, as restaurants begin to pop up around college campuses, or if they're nearby already, it raises the bar for college dining departments. Students have come to expect that quality of service in food."

Institutions that meet those expectations, whether on their own or with outside help, can most likely count on campus food sales to generate robust revenue. Food-service sales are already up 16 percent this fiscal year at George Mason, where officials estimate that revenue from meal plans, retail restaurants, and catering will total $15.8-million this fiscal year. That is nearly double the total for the previous year.

The 'Next Big Thing'

The effort to bring a restaurant to George Mason began as Sodexho neared the end of a 10-year contract with the university. George Mason had made it clear that it wanted a full-service, sports-bar kind of place in the building known as SUB 1. University-services officials were pleased with the success of an after-hours diner that opened in a residence hall in March 2004. Ike's serves meals in a 1950s-style atmosphere from 9 p.m. until 4 a.m most nights. George Mason was looking for a daytime venue that would be just as popular.

Sodexho looked at several restaurant chains that met George Mason's criteria, including Chili's, which has scaled-back versions of its restaurant at Baylor University and Clemson University that are run by a Sodexho competitor, Aramark Campus Services. But Damon's was the only national sports-bar chain approached by Sodexho willing to give a full-service version of its restaurant a try.

"Every college is struggling with 'How do we keep our students on campus?' for meals," says Victoria C. Dunn, senior director of marketing at Sodexho. "This could be the next big thing."

For Damon's, the allure of being on George Mason's campus was simple. The Columbus, Ohio-based company believes that opening restaurants in untried locations is a logical route to growth. "There's no real reason to restrict our development to traditional street venues," says Ed Williams, executive vice president for development. "Traditional street venues are getting so much more competitive it almost behooves you to look at possible alternatives."

Mr. Williams says the company liked the market of 30,000 students at George Mason, a mix of traditional and nontraditional students who commute to the campus and don't mind spending $7 to $10 and up on a meal. It was also important to be in a central location, he says, and the student-union building fit the bill.

Such characteristics are key for restaurant companies and their franchisees in determining which campuses can provide the amount of business needed to make a national-brand eatery profitable.

Naala Royale, vice president for marketing at Aramark Campus Services, says in general the company requires a college to have at least 10,000 students, including a significant portion living on the campus, before it would consider bringing a branded national restaurant there. Other factors include easy access to parking, she says, particularly if the restaurant wants to appeal to visitors as well as students.

For Damon's and Sodexho, operating at George Mason came with a financial advantage. "You've got customers who are obligated, in a sense, to come in and dine," says Mr. Williams. "You've got some built-in business that you don't have in a street store." (Damon's does not release sales figures for individual restaurants.)

George Mason students can charge food to their campus meal cards only from Damon's Express, the takeout side of the restaurant. Tim Shifflett, a freshman, ordered a late lunch of French fries and bourbon-chicken skewers there one recent afternoon. The $10 lunch "is kind of expensive, but it's good," he says. "I'm on the meal plan, so I don't really care that much about the cost." (Several of the meal plans allow for cash equivalents of $3 to $5 per meal at the retail restaurants on the campus.)

For those not on the meal plan, Damon's could be a harder sell. Brandon Lewis, a graduate student, says that in general he does not have much time to dine on the campus. But when he does, he usually eats food he bought elsewhere because most of the choices at George Mason he finds "too unhealthy."

"Graduate students have a little finer taste than what's offered here," he says.

In addition to students, however, Damon's is open to the university's 5,000 faculty and staff members, along with about three million people who the institution says visit the campus each year, including those who attend concerts and sporting events at its arena, the Patriot Center. For the most part, Damon's is not yet packed at lunch or dinner on any given day.

Not There for the View

George Mason, which has outsourced its dining services for at least 15 years, pays a set fee to Sodexho for operating GMU Dining Services — which in addition to the food-court offerings in the Johnson Center also includes an all-you-can-eat dining hall. It then pays another variable fee, tied to the company's meeting certain goals related to customer satisfaction, based in part on customer surveys, says Mr. Scherrens, the senior vice president.

University officials would not discuss the specifics of its new five-year contract with Sodexho.

No matter how the dining-services unit performs, George Mason receives a guaranteed commission from Sodexho. Sodexho also paid George Mason a signing bonus and sets aside revenue for the college to replace dishware and other supplies, maintain equipment, and pay for renovations, says Chris Chisler, director of university services at George Mason. Whatever profit remains goes to the university, she says.

The contract for Damon's is separate. Sodexho pays the institution an undisclosed fee for the space where Damon's is located, Ms. Chisler says.

Although Damon's sees potential in the college market, being on the campus meant making modifications in its usual floor plan and furnishings and accepting that even then, a college campus is, well, a college campus.

Seating at this Damon's features high tables with stools rather than the restaurant's standard booths. Mr. Williams, the executive vice president, says research showed that college students like to congregate by pulling extra chairs up to tables. The restaurant provides wireless Internet access and is decorated with framed pictures of campus athletes, including members of the men's basketball team that astounded the nation with its performance in last month's NCAA tournament.

But parking in front, or even behind, the student-union building doesn't exist. Most visitors to the campus park in a nearby garage, a short walk to the restaurant. The restaurant's neighbors in the recently renovated SUB 1 include a student-activities office, a game room, an outpost of a popular coffee shop in the Johnson Center, and Chick-Fil-A, a former Johnson Center tenant.

A large window in Damon's gives customers a view of a picnic table, the rear entrance of the performing-arts theater, and a sidewalk on which backpack-toting students traipse by. The restaurant is popular, campus officials say, although weekend business is not as good as on other days.

What's more, the bar at Damon's is sidelined until Sodexho's request for a liquor license is approved. Mr. Scherrens says the university is "going to watch real closely" how alcohol is consumed at the restaurant and will offer literature about drinking responsibly, along with an escort service for people on the campus.

George Mason and Sodexho officials are eyeballing the operation at Damon's to gauge its success. The restaurant pricing is "a cut above what students usually pay" for food on the campus, Mr. Scherrens says, and that could keep some students away. So far the university has chosen not to market the restaurant to the surrounding community, for fear of squeezing the intended customers out.

"Will it be profitable? is the big question," says Mr. Scherrens.

Early indicators, however, show that Damon's may be on the right track. Sodexho initially said it would take about a year for it to decide on whether any other of its 900 clients would be a good fit for Damon's or other brand-name restaurants. But already Auburn University has signed a contract for a Damon's that will open in fall of 2007, says Mr. Williams. And Sodexho has included Damon's in bids it is making to several other colleges, says a company spokesman.

The Auburn location won't have alcohol, which doesn't bother Damon's officials. In fact, Mr. Williams says most of its campus restaurants will be alcohol-free. Customers will order food at a counter and wait for it to be delivered to their table. The scaled-down version will serve as the model on campuses that are unlikely to offer the expansive version that is available at George Mason, Mr. Williams says.

"I didn't stay up a lot of nights on this one," says George Mason's Mr. Scherrens. "What I really needed was someone to come up with a concept to make SUB 1 a destination point. And that objective has been met."

Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

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