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Rooted Insights tree

Rooted Insights

Rooted Insights are concise, data-driven reports highlighting effective assessment practices within the Division of Student Affairs. By leveraging existing data, they provide actionable findings to inform decisions, enhance programs and services, and improve the student experience. These reports serve as teaching tools and exemplify best practices, ensuring initiatives align with the Rutgers University community's needs, fostering an evidence-based culture of assessment that optimizes student learning and development.

Rooted Insights

Featured Division: The Atrium 

Using Existing Data Sources to Refine the Dining Experience 

In Fall 2023, Dining Services opened The Atrium in the College Avenue Student Center, succeeding (or as a temporary replacement for) Brower Commons Dining Hall, which had served Rutgers for over 60 years. This Rooted Insight analyzes student meal swipe data to highlight the Atrium's usage. Dining Services uses meal swipe data to inform menu and station decisions, ensuring an exceptional dining experience for Rutgers students. 

Understanding the transition from Brower Commons to The Atrium exemplifies the benefits of conducting a detailed assessment of student needs, preferences, and available resources. Assessment is an iterative process that provides important feedback about how services, programs, and experiences help students thrive in the context of departmental objectives and goals. 

Guiding the assessment process that both led and continues to inform daily operations in the Atrium are the Dining Services mission statement, service statement, and dining pledge.

Mission Statement and Goals

Student Affairs Mission StatementWith students at the heart of all we do, the Division of Student Affairs facilitates innovative learning and developmental experiences, challenging and preparing students to successfully learn, engage, serve, and lead at Rutgers University and in a global society.
Rutgers Dining Services Mission StatementRutgers Dining Services is committed to providing a high quality, efficient food operation in a safe and congenial environment. Dining Services pledges to operate in a professional, prudent manner to achieve total satisfaction for the students, faculty, staff and guests of the university community.
Rutgers Dining Services StatementWe create happiness by providing nutritious, enjoyable quality products in a warm and friendly environment for the diverse population of the Rutgers University community
Rutgers Dining PledgeRutgers University will contribute to sustainability by reducing its environmental footprint while enhancing its contribution to the social and economic capital of New Jersey, the nation and the world.

Having clear and concise goals enables the Dining Services team to consistently engage in the assessment cycle, in an effort to continually improve the student experience. Daily operations at The Atrium, including menu options and service hours, are informed by an assessment strategy that outlines:

  • Which stations are most popular among student patrons of The Atrium?
  • How does patronage vary by time of day (lunch vs. Dinner)?
  • What changes in patronage can we observe year to year (2023 - 2024)?

Data Collection

The graphs that follow are based on student purchases through a meal plan swipe or student RU Express, separated into lunch (11am - 4pm) and dinner (4:01pm - 9pm), by station and by date. The data was collected over a 20-day period in October (M-F), 2023 and 2024.

Tracking Usage of the Atrium

The continuous tracking and reporting of patron counts/meal swipes paves the way for the Dining Services team at The Atrium to optimize and continually improve their services to better meet the needs and preferences of Rutgers students. Swipe data and patron counts are collected daily and exported into an excel file for tracking sales of each station, fluctuations in sales and patron counts, and anecdotally, any events, holidays, or menu changes that may have occurred and that may have prompted shifts in data.

Observations

Meal Swipes by Station

  • Popular Stations

    King's Hawaiian and Scarlet Ginger are the most popular stations for both lunchtime and dinner, with higher visitation during dinner.

    Least Popular Stations

    Pizza Pi and Three Chilies have the lowest levels of meal swipes for lunch, while Mezze has the fewest swipes for dinner.

    Weekly Trends

    Swipes are consistently lower on Fridays, particularly for dinner, suggesting a reduction in dinnertime offerings may be warranted.

  • Changes in Popularity

    King's Hawaiian remains popular, but Scarlet Ginger sees a sharp decline in usage. Three Chilies moves up significantly in usage, now comparable to King's Hawaiian.

    Customization Impact

    Strong sales for King's Hawaiian and Three Chilies are likely driven by added customization options to their menus. In response to the decline in Scarlet Ginger sales, Dining is adding more menu options to this station.

    Consistent Trends

    Pizza Pi and Mezze sales remain relatively flat from 2023 to 2024.
     

    NOTE: Salad bar purchases are underrepresented in this data due to the current inability to order via kiosk. A change to the ordering kiosk to add a salad bar main entree choice has been requested.

Tracking Revenue Contribution by Station

While meal swipe volume is a useful metric, understanding the contribution each station makes to overall sales is also important. The following bar chart shows the percentage of sales by station, separately for lunch and dinner, and from 2023 to 2024.

Average Percentage of Sales by Station

  • Lunchtime Sales

    King's Hawaiian and Scarlet Ginger contribute the most to overall sales, performing comparably. Pizza Pi has the lowest share of sales, with Three Chilies and Mezze performing slightly better.

    Dinner Sales

    Similar pattern, with Scarlet Ginger and King's Hawaiian contributing the most to overall sales. Pizza Pi performs much better during dinnertime, a reduction in dinnertime offerings may be warranted.

  • Shift in Sales

    Three Chilies' contribution to sales is now comparable to King's Hawaiian, with Scarlet Ginger's contribution dropping notably for lunchtime sales. Mezze and Pizza Pi each contribute about 10% to total sales, with Pizza Pi continuing to have stronger sales at dinner.

Key Takeaways

Top Performers

King's Hawaiian continues to demonstrate the strongest performance across stations, based on both swipes and percentage of sales. In 2024, Three Chilies has moved up in the ranks, displacing Scarlet Ginger.

Customization Benefits

Higher performers are likely benefiting from offering more customization to their menus.

Meal Timing

Dinner is generally a more popular time for meal swipes compared to lunchtime.

Salad Bar Enhancement

Incorporating the salad bar option into the ordering kiosk will provide a clearer and more holistic picture of dining offerings.

Action Plan to Implement Changes/Future Assessment Opportunities

Based on continuous feedback on student usage of dining offerings, along with qualitative feedback, Dining Services can make adjustments to the experience at The Atrium. This may include changes in operation times, station availability, menu options, and more.

Soliciting qualitative feedback in the form of social media posts has been done historically and should be considered to enhance future assessments. This may include posts with questions to better understand reasons for the popularity of each station, additional menu items desired, the extent to which there is enough variety of food options (ranging from cultural considerations to sustainability, and beyond). A review of Reddit pages and parent Facebook pages have been used historically, but perhaps other channels can be considered as well (Instagram?). Efforts to continue to collect data - especially of a qualitative nature - should be considered on an ongoing basis in order to continually improve/enhance the dining experience for our students.

Ready to Turn Insights into Impact?

Student Affairs Research & Assessment (SARA) is here to support your team in designing meaningful assessments, interpreting data, and applying findings to improve student experiences.

Schedule a consultation to:
- Explore how your unit can use existing data sources like swipe counts, surveys, or engagement metrics.
- Develop custom assessment tools aligned with your goals.
- Learn how to visualize and communicate your findings effectively.

Contact us to get started.