informal proposal

XXXX

701 E Apache Blvd.

Tempe, AZ 85281

[email protected]

Date: October 24, 2018

Subject: To-Go Dining Service “Grab & Gold” Proposal

To: ASU Administration

The Freshmen Fifteen

According to a comprehensive study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “nearly two-thirds of students gain weight as freshmen.” This infamous college weight gain is known as the dreaded “Freshmen 15.” With new college students adjusting to a different environment and the many food options at their disposal, a health epidemic arises. Weight gain is inevitable for some freshman with stress, binge-eating, not exercising, transportation challenges, and financial issues. ASU has unfortunately not escaped this phenomenon with estimated 65% of the 2020 class of freshmen putting on weight.

Often, students resort to quick and easy foods. Most students prefer fast food to dining hall because of the convenience, short-distance from most classes. As students are in between classes, work, and the countless other activities, they end up resorting to fast food.

The Memorial Union, the main dining center in the middle of campus, is where most students go to eat during the day. Fast food options include: Burger King, Chick-Fil-A, Pei Wei, and the Pod. Although there are a few healthy items on these restaurants’ menus, the most popular menu items are burgers, chicken nuggets, fries, and other unsaturated fatty foods. These foods lack in the essential nutrients and fail to provide sustainable energy to students.

Where ASU Dining Falls Short

With sometimes as little as fifteen minutes between classes, there is often not enough time for students to sit down in a dining hall. If students are near the Memorial Union, they can easily buy a quick item from the fast food options or the Pod in around 15 minutes. Although a dining hall may offer healthy options, it is a sit-down environment that takes more time by forcing students to stay within the hall. According to a survey in the State Press, a student spends on average 41 minutes at a dining hall. A student may not have that much time to spend in a dining hall, forcing them to eat less-healthier options. An ASU junior studying public health states, “fast food on campus is so easy and fast compared to dining halls. This is leading to students consuming unhealthy, greasy options.”

There is a large food need for students as ASU that is being overlooked. Dining halls can decrease over-crowding in the halls by offering a to-go service. There is a dire need for a to-go service. With students paying up to $2685 for the unlimited meal plan, they deserve high-quality food on demand.

Grab & Gold: To-Go Dining Hall Service

To solve this student food issue, we present Grab & Gold, a to-go food service that can operate in the existing dining halls. Students will have the option to transport their food outside of the dining hall. The grab-and-go convenience of the system will encourage students to choose healthy options over fast food.

A student can use one meal swipe in exchange for a pre-prepared healthy meal at the dining hall.

The packaged food can stay unrefrigerated for up to three hours in case students do not consume meals immediately. All to-go meals will have items from all essential food-groups. Meals will provide healthy nutrients to students, giving them lasting energy for their day. The fruits and vegetables are organic and pesticide-free. All foods are selected by our qualified nutritionist and dieticians.

Grab & Gold Meal Options

Grab & Gold containers hold the following:

· Vegetable serving

· Fruit serving

· Whole-grain serving

· Protein (turkey or chicken) serving

· Choice of drink

There will be vegetarian and vegan options as well. For a detailed list of all meal options, visit grab.and.gold.com/menu.

Grab & Gold will encourage students to eat breakfast, a meal that a large proportion of college students skip. According to a study done at Blinn College, only 2/3’s of college students eat breakfast. They additionally showed that eating breakfast positively affects test scores. Implementing this program would help increase the number of students that eat breakfast and retention. With Grab & Gold’s convenience and accessibility, students can easily quickly get their breakfast, be energized with nutritious foods, and head off to their day. An example of a Grab & Gold breakfast contains a yogurt, banana, whole-grain bagel, and orange juice. Grab & Gold’s breakfast program is both an investment in student’s health and education.

Lunch is the hour where students are most busy, rushing to classes. Off-campus students do not have time to go back to their residence. During the afternoon, there is the most foot traffic in the Memorial Union. This food program would draw students from resorting to fast food.

The Grab & Gold service would be optimal for dinner. Students have club meetings during the evenings. Also, students returning from campus later in the evening can easily grab and not have to worry about eating their whole meal before the dining hall closes. Most dining halls close at 8 or 9 PM at the latest, depending on the day of the week.

An Investment in Students’ Health

This program will need extra staff members in the kitchen. Each dining hall will need average 6 more employees on rotation to run the program. With five dining halls (Barrett, Tooker, Manzanita, Hassayampa, and Pitchforks), this will total in about 30 employees. They will prepare the meals, order the appropriate food, and distribute. As Grab & Gold, we will contract our workers out to the dining halls. Our cooks are well-trained in food preparation and safety.

As Grab & Gold, we will provide trained employees, high quality food, and eco-friendly packaging. Below is a cost list of some of the main items budgeted for 2019.

· 30 employees: $1.1 mil

· Food: $2 mil

· Packaging bags: $10,000

All of this totals to just over 3 million per year.

With the installation of Grab & Gold, students will have more incentive to purchase dining plans, especially off-campus students. Our research estimates that there will be a 5% increase in demand for dining plans. This will offset the costs of this program, and the cost of meal plans for students will not rise.

Creating an Innovative and Healthy Campus Culture

The ASU charter states that the university assumes the responsibility of the “overall health of the communities it serves.” Grab & Gold will directly benefit the health of the ASU community by providing nutritious, convenient options for students. Because ASU is the most innovative school, the dining halls should innovate and accommodate in order to fulfill the needs of students. With the diversity of ASU, Grab & Gold caters to all students with various schedules and food needs.

For questions and comments, please reach out to us either at contact@grab&gold.com or call (480) 555-9030. We would like to discuss in person and go into further detail on how we will improve the food options at ASU. We at Grab & Gold look forward to the potential future partnership with ASU. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sources:

-http://www.statepress.com/article/2017/11/spopinon-dining-hall-food-is-unsatisfactory

-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4511069/

-https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876514.pdf