CATERING: CASE STUDY 3
CREATING CREATIVE TIEREDPRICED MENUS & SERVICES AT UMASS C AT E R I N G
By Brenda Ryan-Newton, Catering Director, UMass Catering, University of Massachusetts
Tiered menus were created to give our customers choices. The more choices we present to our customers, the more delighted they seem with our services and feel we are catering to their needs. We succeed when our customers are happy. When considering and designing menus and services of different tiered pricing, on-campus providers of catering services must know their customers—what they like, what they need, their style, their expectations and, most important, what they are willing to pay and what your competition is doing. Keeping current with market trends in our business is crucial because what is hot today is cold tomorrow. Customers look to us for guidance. We offer culinary excellence and impeccable service, and we need to deliver it at different tiers to keep a multitude of customers happy!
C A M P U S D I N I N G TO DAY
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WHY OFFER T IER E D PR IC E D MENUS & S ERVICE S
Pizza is a favorite on the Express Grab and Go menu.
Over the years our campus departments have faced continuous and numerous financial budget cutbacks and underfunding, all of which have impacted our catering sales. For instance, departments that may have had weekly lunches now have been forced to cut back to weekly breaks. In our department, we felt one of the best ways to be sympathetic and still continue to capture catering revenue was to be creative in how we approached and marketed our standard menus. What better way than to create tiered-priced catering menus and delivery services to enhance our catering offerings.
SE LE C T ION S OFFE R E D UMass Catering offers four tiers of catering: • Catering by Design. Our full-service catering meets the needs of customers who need to provide a high level experience to their guests. Customers can order plated or buffet service. • Light and Elegant. Our casual dining catering offers minimal waitstaff and linen service. Menu items are preset for guests’ served buffet- or reception-style. • UMass Express Menu. Our newest and most successful tier of catering serves breakfast, lunches, and dinners delivered free of charge anywhere on campus. It was developed to compete with our off-campus competitor and generate revenue that best fits the needs of our budget-conscious customers. Customers call or fax in orders. Last minute orders are accepted at no additional charge. • Express Grab and Go. This offers “No Frills but Good to Go!” The menu is limited to a continental breakfast, a deli buffet, and pizza buffet. Customers call in orders and come to the catering office to pick them up and can take them anywhere on or off campus. Many customers make use of this service as an option for private parties. We must deliver an exceptional culinary experience to our customers with the service that they expect. Because we are conscious of our food and labor costs, our production cost is our first priority. Therefore, when deciding what to offer our customers, we calculate the costs of food and labor and price the options accordingly. For example, seared wild Alaskan salmon and medallions of beef tenderloin served with a pink peppercorn sauce are expensive to purchase and produce, so these