FOOD CART ON FRANKLIN PIERCE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

MARKETING RESEARCH MK 333

Melissa RichtelSamantha Deabay

Alex PhillipsMadison Rank

Alycia Nazzaro

INTRODUCTION

• Franklin Pierce University is a small, private regionally accredited university focused on an education that matters

• Achieves academic success through integration on liberal arts and professional programs

• College at Rindge has 1,300 undergraduate students and 391 employees

NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

• There is no convenience food option for students outside of the dining options provided by Sodexho, current food service provider on the Franklin Pierce University Campus.

• 4 convenience food options in the local area, only 1 provides delivery service

PROBLEM STATEMENT

• Research is necessary to determine if there is a demand for a food cart service on the Franklin Pierce University campus

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

• Assess the current literature related to college students and convenience foods, preferences, and trends

• Identify types of food products students would be interested in purchasing

• Determine the most productive hours of operation for the food cart

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES CONT’D

• Determine the most convenient location of the food cart

• Investigate what Franklin Pierce University students spend on convenience food

DEFINITIONS

• Convenience Food- A food, typically used as a meal or snack, which has been pre-prepared as a quick and easy option and requires no preparation by the consumer; this would include such things as pizza, grinders, chips, burgers.

DEFINITIONS CONT’D

• Food Cart- A food cart is a mobile kitchen that will be set up on the Franklin Pierce University campus to facilitate the sale and marketing of food to students from the local campus community

• Fast Food- Food that can be prepared quickly and easily and is sold in restaurants and food carts as a quick meal or to be taken out

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Convenience Food• College students face time

constraints and develop strategies to limit the time and energy to devoted to food preparation

• College student’s lack free time and proper cooking amenities which forces many students to turn to convenience foods as a primary food source.

LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D

• Based on a study conducted by Marie Marquis a Professor of Medicine from the University of Montreal• for both male and female,

convenience appears to be the most important food motivation retained by students living in residence halls

LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D

• Study conducted at Arizona State University looked at undergraduates to see which foods were considered snack foods, meals, and foods that were considered as snacks by some and meals by others• Found that potato chips, crackers, cookies,

and nuts were consistently viewed as snacks, while soups, burritos, pizza, and pancakes were consistently viewed as meals.

LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D

• The study also found that the snacks that were more desired by college students and are seen to be more convenient to the consumer; some of these foods were: crackers, Pringles, Cheez-its, potato chips, cookies, and French fries.

LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D

• Other campuses with Food Trucks• UCLA- closed one of their dining halls

in favor of inviting more than 30 food trucks into the space

• MIT- has been using food trucks for over a decade, currently four operate on campus

• Many schools not only take cash and debit/credit cards but allow students to use there dining points to purchase from the cart

LITERATURE REVIEW CONT’D

• Many schools are now starting to run and manage their own trucks• University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa

originally had several trucks frequent the campus but then made the decision to debut their own truck instead

• According to National Association of College and University Food Services close to 100 college campuses now run their own trucks, compared to a dozen five years ago.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

• Substantial evidence has been found that there is no convenience food option for students outside of the dining options provided by Sodexho. • Main client is the student body at

Franklin Pierce University

DEVELOPMENT OF SURVEY

• Started with our literature review • Identified that there is demand for a

food cart• Input was provided by members of our

team and experts on the topic• From all information gathered we were

able to formulate a questionnaire, 11 questions were formed

• Throughout this process we have used face and content validity through expert review.

DEFINITION OF POPULATION

• The population that we as researchers examined was the student population at Franklin Pierce University at Rindge, which has a current student population of 1,400 students.

SAMPLE SIZE

• Franklin Pierce University at Rindge campus. Within the campus• 40 students from each class

(freshman through senior year) were chosen.

• 20 males and 20 females from each class were selected.

• The total sample size was 160.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

• The subgroups chosen in the Market Research project were 40 students from each grade• Divided even more with 20 females

from each grade and 20 males from each grade

• 160 students were surveyed: 80 males and 80 females

• Self-administered survey • Respondents to take the survey in the

group context while working individually

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

• Drop-off survey• Allowing the survey questions to be

left with the respondents so they could return it to the surveyors at their convenience

• Non-probability convenience sampling • Allowing the surveyor to choose at

their discretion who should be surveyed.

ASSUMPTIONS

• The fundamental assumption that the researchers made was that respondents answered the questions completely, honestly, and accurately.

LIMITATIONS

• Due to our time constraint, we could not use a probability sampling method.

• Instead we were limited to using a non-probability sampling in which not everyone in our population had an equal chance of being selected for our study.

How likely would you purchase convenience food items from a food cart located on campus?

Would you purchase pizza from a food cart?

Would you purchase sandwiches from a food cart?

Would you purchase chips/pretzels from a food cart?

Would you purchase yogurt from a food cart?

Would you purchase side orders from a food cart?

Would you purchase burgers/hot dogs from a food cart?

Would you purchase soup from a food cart food?

Would you purchase fresh fruit from a food cart?

Based on the purchase category from question two, estimate how much you would be willing to spend at the food

cart in one visit?

Would you purchase between 7:00 am - 11:00 am?

Would you purchase between 11:00 am - 4:00 pm?

Would you purchase between 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm?

Would you purchase between 8:00 pm - 2:00 am?

Would you purchase on Monday?

Would you purchase on Tuesday?

Would you purchase on Wenesday?

Would you purchase on Thursday?

Would you purchase on Friday?

Would you purchase on Saturday?

Would you purchase on Sunday?

How many times per week do you travel off campus to purchase

convenience food?

Where would you most likely patronize the food cart on the Franklin Pierce

University campus?

Do you currently have a meal plan?

What is your class standing?

What is your gender?

Where do you reside on the Franklin Pierce University campus?

Cross tabulation-Where would you most likely patronize the food cart on the Franklin Pierce

University campus? What is your class standing?

Cross tabulation- How likely would you purchase convenience food items from a food

cart located on campus?What is your class standing?

DISCUSSION

• Majority of the students said that they would purchase food from a food cart

• Definition developed earlier states that the food cart would serve convenience food

• Consistent with studies found in literature review where Marie Marquis, Professor of Medicine, found that “convenience appears to be the most important food motivation retained by students living in residential halls”

DISCUSSION CONT’D

• When asked which foods they were most likely to purchase from the food cart the majority would prefer to purchase convenience food regardless of the nutritional value

• Study found states “it is obvious that overall college student’s look to consume food that is convenient and available to them despite what the nutrition value of foods may be”

CONCLUSIONS

• Our first research objective of assessing the current literature related to college students and convenience foods in terms of preferences and trends

• We were able to find very helpful information and studies which supplemented our study.

CONCLUSIONS CONT’D

• Our second research objective was to be able to identify the types of food products students would be interested in purchasing.

• It was concluded that students would most likely purchase pizza (62.5%), sandwiches (70%), chips (56.3%), side orders (77.5%), and burgers and hot dogs (63.1%).

CONCLUSIONS CONT’D

• Our third research objective was to determine the most productive hours of operation for the food cart.

• Through our research we were able to determine that the most productive time of operation would be between 8:00pm and 2:00am with 54.4% of the student body responding.

CONCLUSIONS CONT’D

• The fourth research objective was to determine the most convenient location of the food cart.

• Through our research we were able to determine that the library courtyard was the most popular response in which 51.3% (82 respondents) of the student body preferred.

CONCLUSIONS CONT’D

• The final research objective was to investigate what Franklin Pierce University students spend on convenience food.

• We addressed this objective by posing the question of based on the purchase categories from question two, estimate how much you would spend at the food cart.

• Through our research we found that 50 respondents (31.3%) said that they would spend $5.00 at the food cart.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Should have a food cart located in the library courtyard between the hours of 8:00pm to 2:00am

• Serve such foods as pizza, sandwiches, chips, side orders, and burgers/ hot dogs

• Based on the literature review many other colleges and food service providers are now offering and managing their own food cart already we think that the addition of a food cart on campus would be beneficial

RECOMMENDATIONS CONT’D

• For further research it would be valuable to increase the sample size in order to portray the opinions of the student body at Franklin Pierce University.

• One problem we encountered was respondents not reading the directions on the survey• As a research team we should have

watched more carefully when respondents were filling out the questionnaire in order to better assess the overall results of each question.