When students at the University

Transcription

1 Back to School USC to Open Ronald Tutor Campus Center When students at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles return to school for the fall semester, they will be able to enjoy the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center. The 192,000-square-foot center replaces The Commons, which was torn down two years ago. The Commons ons was an older building and it really didn t dn t create the environment that the university was looking for as a gathering spot for the students, said Kris Klinger, director of USC Hospitality. The campus center design took all of those pieces into consideration in regard to creating a spot in the center of campus where students gather, whether it is at a food venue or a performance venue, or a meeting room. They created a space that again will bring everyone together, particularly the students, obviously, because they really are looking to create more of a residential feel and environment and keep folks on campus at night and during the weekend. Several food venues are avail- 24 AUGUST 2010 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY

2 able for the campus community to gather. Moreton Fig, an 8,000-square-foot sophisticated, yet approachable restaurant is named for the two towering century-old fig trees fronting the restaurant. We are partnering with the Lark Creek Restaurant Group to provide a venue for a nice meal, whether students bring their parents on campus, students get together, a student group organization or staff and faculty gathering and/or that faculty entertaining or having a meeting on campus, he said. The opening of Moreton Fig represents a homecoming for the restaurant group s co-founder, president and CEO Michael Dellar, a USC alumnus. Moreton Fig will be open for lunch and dinner and will serve an abbreviated lounge menu between the two periods. USC also partnered with Chef Alan Jackson for Lemonade, featuring gourmet fare with nostalgic touches for lunch, dinner and take-away. Lemonade is a coffee shop or café-type environment that we added so that folks could come in and casually grab something light or grab quite a bit, depending on what they are looking for and just relax in a really unique environment, said Klinger. It s an up-and-coming concept in the L.A. area. We thought it would be a really good fit for the university. The center also features a food court with casualdining concepts, including California Pizza Kitchen (CPK), Wahoo s Fish Taco, Carl s Jr., Panda Express and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf has a yogurt component, he said. We wanted a coffee concept and also a dessert option, so we were able to do both of them. Klinger said it was important to bring national and local brands into the facility. Instead of doing some of our own brands, the time was better for us to partner with the national brands and utilize all of the expertise that they bring to the table. We also executed a number of surveys with student groups and organizations to determine what they were looking for. They were looking for branded con- cepts. CPK was their No. 1 choice. Almost 80 percent of the students wanted a CPK on campus. It spoke to us. That was ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY AUGUST

3 Back to School one of the reasons why we went with the local and national concepts. He continued, We always, like any other university, look to be leaders, set trends, but we are also trying to match what we offer to the needs and wants of our students. We have a substantial international population, so we have the food court and some of those offerings that we have on campus. But we also have a large Southern California population that is familiar with the Lemonades, and the CPKs. On the same level as the food court is Seeds Marketplace. It will have a number of home meal replacement, grab n go items, both hot and cold, and a large grocery section, said Klinger. It also has four action food stations one will be a made-to-order salad station; one will be a made-to-order sandwich station; one is a hot-food rotisserie station; the fourth is a dessert station we make ice cream sandwiches and other desserts to order. It is very unique. It is more like a grocery store. In preparation for the new facility, and Seeds in particular, Klinger and his staff took trips to venues in Northern California. We utilized some ideas that we gathered on trips to Northern California in particular and some of the grocery stores there. It will be somewhat similar to a Trader Joe s with some convenience items. We are really going to make sure that we offer our students, staff and faculty what they are looking for. It will be ever-changing as we get feedback from those folks. Another venue is a USC legend Traditions. The new Traditions is a gastropub with top-tier chefs and inventive culinary offerings. We are partnering with Student Affairs on that, said Klinger. It also opens up to a performance venue called Tom s Place. Tom s Place is a large stage with large-screen TVs, and the radio station is also located down there. It is a great gathering spot for students. The facility also features a ballroom that can hold between 700 and 1,000 guests, depending on space configuration, and several other meeting rooms. While USC is an open campus when it comes to catering, they do have one advantage. We have a substantial production kitchen downstairs where all of the food will be produced. We will have that advantage down there. We won t have to truck it anywhere. We won t have to do anything other than just cook it. Like many new facilities on campuses around the country, the campus center was designed with sustainability in mind. The facility will be LEED certified. We are not sure what level yet. They are going through all of the processes. In addition to composting and recycling, Klinger is working with vendors to be sustainable. We partner with the brands too because quite a few of them have their own initiatives as well that we piggy back on. We piggy back on our other vendors too, like our produce 26 AUGUST 2010 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY

4

5 Back to School company and our broadline distributor. We are really focusing on reducing our carbon footprint. We are looking for all California that we can or all local if we can. The Moreton Fig menu will be very local and very sustainable, very fresh. The center, designed by AC Martin Partners, will also house a new Admissions Center, the Epstein Family Alumni Center, radio station KSCR and student government offices. Klinger is very excited for the grand opening of the facility, which is scheduled for the end of this month. It is beautiful and provides everyone with just an amazing amount of options on the campus, and our goal is to keep more folks on campus than the folks who would go off campus because of all the options that we have. OCH 28 AUGUST 2010 ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY

6