Aramark School Support Services

The Chicken Grande burrito

The Chicken Grande burrito at Aramark's U.B.U. Lounge concept consists of grilled chicken, rice, beans, salsa and cheese wrapped and baked in a tortilla and served with cilantro-lime sauce.

Aramark's new 12 Spot and U.B.U. Lounge concepts aren't just new brands for middle- and high-school students; they also represent a whole new way of doing business for the Philadelphia-based managed-services provider.

U.B.U. Lounge and 12 Spot, designed to build participation by adding sizzle to the school cafeteria experience for the teenage and 'tween sets, respectively, were developed as a direct response to Aramark's proprietary DiningStyles research, a comprehensive, cross-segment look at what makes customers tick.

"This was the first time we ever attacked a project in quite this way," says Paul Carr, senior director of culinary, Innovative Dining Solutions, or IDS, who helped spearhead the strategy group assembled to turn the research findings into a cohesive, turnkey plan.

IDS functions almost like an in-house marketing agency, says Michael Pursell, IDS' director of concept development and another project team member. The division helps develop market-driven brands across all of Aramark's business segments, handling menus and recipes, marketing materials, graphics, design and other integral elements.

Surveys of middle- and high-school students conducted as part of Aramark's ongoing DiningStyles initiative revealed significant opportunities to win over older kids with dining solutions that provide plenty of "cool factor," according to Carolina Lobo, vice president of marketing, School Support Services. That includes nutritious, fun and varied menu options as well as bright, hip decor elements, trendy music and an overall environment that encourages "hanging out" with friends. "We had to do whatever it took to get this group to eat lunch," she says.

Each concept was designed to be custom-tailored to a wide variety of different location parameters, including size, age of the facility and equipment, and nutritional requirements as stipulated by the National School Lunch Program.

"One of our biggest challenges was designing a menu that would be flexible enough for virtually any setting and circumstance," admits Stanton Lyons, IDS' concept development chef and former executive chef of the Houston Independent School District.

Lyons was brought in as a specialist for School Support Services. "We wanted to get away from tray service as much as possible and to create handheld reimbursable meals that would appeal to customers in these age groups," he says.

For 'tweens, who are 10 to 13 years old and in the sixth through eighth grades, the 12 Spot concept combines brightly painted walls, new lighting, music, kid-friendly packaging and colorful graphics and merchandising keyed to the seasons. The menu emphasizes a wide variety of trendy yet healthful foods that take their cue from the quick-service marketplace. Even the packaging and names reflect the kinetic, edgy personalities of middle-schoolers: Asian-style Beef-a-yaki stir-fry, for instance, is presented in authentic Chinese-takeout packaging, and ever-popular beef burritos are "Big-as-Your-Head."

The 12 Spot flavor profile is big and bold, with lots of little enhancements that add excitement for example, apple sauce combined with green food coloring and lemonade creates the fun, fluorescent-green Super Sour Apple Sauce. Menu items are designed to support on-the-go lifestyles, since the last thing 'tweens want to do is wait in line for lunch. The Meatball Bomber consists of spaghetti and meatballs locked up in a calzonelike pizza-dough pocket, and the Inside-Outer is a grilled cheese sandwich served "inside-out" using a hamburger bun.

High-schoolers, on the other hand, have more sophisticated palates and more sociable lifestyles not to mention more outside choices, whether it's a diet-minded choice of a carton of yogurt from a convenience store or a fast-food burger from down the street. In fact, Aramark's research found that high-school cafeterias typically capture only 60 percent of all student lunches eaten. Even more significantly, 93 percent of high-school students said they wanted to spend time with their friends at lunch.

High-school students also are very into self-expression and choice. To that end, U.B.U. Lounge is all about options. Open all day long where possible, U.B.U. Lounge has a "third area" designed to look like a modern living room, with couches for "chilling out" with friends. Serving and dining areas sport bright, neon decor and graphic elements, and an "Expression Wall" that touts being yourself. Lively music and casual staff uniforms complete the image that "everyone fits in" even employees, according to officials.

As for the menu at U.B.U., popular foods with a sophisticated but healthful twist are the order of the day. The Chicken Grande burrito consists of grilled chicken, rice, beans, salsa and cheese wrapped and baked in a tortilla and served with a cilantro-lime sauce, while the Santa Fe Turkey sandwich is filled with turkey, ham, bacon, cheese and tangy chili mayo. There also is an assortment of entrée-sized salads, such as Grilled on the

Greens, with grilled chicken, bacon and ranch dressing, and The Cali Cobb Salad, featuring turkey and ham with honey mustard. Veggie Nice Rice is a vegetarian-friendly option of vegetables and boiled eggs stirred into fried rice.

The 12 Spot and U.B.U. Lounge have proved both cost-effective and successful at building same-store sales by an average of 15 percent to 22 percent in those locations that have added the concept, according to Lobo. Acceptance by local school districts has been even stronger than originally forecast, with 123 sites up and running as of April 1 and another 80 scheduled for the summer. Aramark's management hopes to have 75 percent of its locations signed on within the next two years.

"This has been an especially exciting project for us," says Lobo, "because it's been driven by innovation. This is a generation that's been trained to expect change, and we're able to provide it for them."