Students See the Pros and Cons of Trayless Dining

Foodservice operators’ desire to function in a more environmentally friendly manner seems to know no bounds these days. And the segment in which this conversation is most prevalent has to be among college and university foodservice operators as their customer base tends to be the most engaged in this area. While these operators continue to explore countless different environmentally friendly options, one area that most of them seem to be wrestling with is trayless dining.

While attending a NACUFS seminar earlier this summer, I know the subject came up repeatedly and that has consistently been the case in various other conversations with college and university foodservice operators. It’s an interesting subject that’s a lot more complex than it appears because it affects more than the customer’s experience with your facility. It also affects the cleanliness of your dining room, food consumption and more.

We’ve spent a lot of time examining the topic from the operators’ perspective but what do the students think? This morning I found an article in the LA Times that looked at the subject from the customers’ perspective. What was most interesting to me was the fact that they seem to understand the potential benefit of going trayless but students actually seem a little skeptical about the benefits of such an effort.

If that’s the case, then it’s worth it for college and university foodservice operators to do more than take the environmentally friendly step. They should also manage their message to their customers accordingly by quantifying the savings and impact on the environment their efforts are having. Among the hierarchy of things operators have to accomplish on a daily basis this may seem somewhat out of place but I believe that selling your environmental successes to your customers and showing how they are contributing is a very important step as your green initiatives continue to evolve.