Today’s college and university students wield a tremendous amount of spending power, and they demand more diversity on the dining hall menu.
The U.S. has nearly 16 million college and university students, a group with more than $300 billion in spending power. That alone makes university foodservice a promising foodservice revenue channel, but any food and beverage processor supplier to this market must be aware that college-aged consumers have definite demands and expectations.
In 2011, Technomic polled 1,500 college students around the nation for its “College and University Consumer Trend Report.” Survey results demonstrate just how important foods and beverages are to prospective students. Technomic says 44% of those surveyed indicated their school’s dining program was at least somewhat important in their decision of where to enroll. Despite that statistic, only 32% of students believe their school does a good job of making sure students are pleased with the overall dining program.