Campus dining officials are rolling out a campaign to promote the year-old Metro Diner – a J Street cornerstone they said is falling short of expectations.
GW Campus Dining, which counts two new employees as of Monday, will plaster advertisements in residence halls and take to Twitter and Facebook to market the diner.
University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard declined to answer questions about how Metro Diner fared financially for the past year, citing a policy not to release sales information.
Director of Campus Support Services Nancy Haaga said she hopes to see more interest in the diner, which is J Street's largest venue and the only one open daily and late-night.
“It’s important that we are able to serve a significant body of customers out of that venue, because we’ve invested a lot of space in that venue,” Haaga said, adding she wants to publicize offerings like made-to-order omelettes and other new hot bar options, like scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon.
J Street’s first marketing director, Sarah Stevenson, started in August. Three top employees have turned over in recent weeks. Bernadette Thomas became general manager after longtime director Richard Yokely left this summer. The campus dining office also hired Gurmit Chaudhri to fill the retail manager position, vacant since last spring. Haaga said customer service and food presentation without an operational manager has been difficult.
The office also plans to roll out a more rigorous social media campaign this fall, but a year after promising to boost its online presence, the campus dining accounts on Facebook and Twitter attract little attention.
The Facebook page had just one September post as of Sunday evening. The Twitter account has not posted since May.
“We limped through last year,” Haaga said on the office's communication. “It wasn’t nearly as effective as it can be, or as it should be. Clearly, we have big expectations about how things are going to be improved.”
The diner was the central piece of the J Street overhaul last fall when GW swapped out nine vendors for mainly Sodexo-run eateries.
Last year, Metro Diner was widely criticized for its long wait times, which prompted the University to add a hot bar to the venue this fall. Haaga said the new choices have decreased the wait time.
Haaga said the J Street team is focusing on creating more “monotony breakers” in daily menus, as well as events like a prix fixe surf and turf meal. They are also working with the Center for Student Engagement to bring in traffic to J Street with entertainment and student presentations.
Tim Miller, the director of the Center for Student Engagement, said he is encouraging his team to collaborate with GW’s dining services, adding that the most recent event, the annual Freshman Feast, had a record turnout of more than 900 students.
Bon Mi, which opened this fall, has been well received by customers, Haaga said. Auntie Anne’s Pretzels will open up shop later this month, marking the second major switch since the massive overhaul the year before.
There are SO many great chefs from local restaurants in DC that could help you develop ideas, recipes and concepts for J Street. These are chefs that are highly trained in how to produce good food with great presentations and good quality. I’m sure that they would be happy to help and they are just a phone call away. “Call them Maybe”!
Competition- its what has killed J street and will continue to do so in the future unless they offer a service (food) which people actually want. Which means better quality food, people will go to places with good food, its that simple.
I’ve been to other universities with Sodexo dining and the food is very good and a popular choice for students, the problem is management- Nancy Haaga is inept and the contract with Sodexo keeps GW from having any leverage over Sodexo, theres no incentive to do well.
This is so typical of GW. Rather than fix the problem, they cover it up with a marketing campaign. Trust me GW, no amount of social media or dorm flyers is going to cover up the fact that Sodexo has you by the short hairs. They are going to continue to produce sub-par food at sky high prices unless you hold them accountable. Cancel their contract if you have to and find someone who will put the neccessary effort into student dining. Believe it or not, students care a loy about this and it is an issue that will cause many students to second guess coming to this school.
Its easy: Cut the prices if you want to compete with the better food down the street. Clearly trying to produce high quality food to match your outragous prices isnt working for you.
I cant wait for Auntie Anns. At least you cant screw up a pretzel…unless you plan to charge a fortune for them. Try to resist your urge to do this if you want to keep any of our support at all.
They will either be under cooked or stale.
Gimme dat cottage cheeeze!
Why does GW/Sudexo think they can solve everything with marketing? J-Street does NOT have a marketing problem, they have a food price/quality problem. Metro Diner in particular is way over priced for the quality of the food that you get, and on some days, the wait is unbearably long. There are some instances where I could have gone to the store, pick up a box of frozen chicken fingers, and heat them in the oven myself faster than Metro Dinner could.
I seriously can’t wait for Auntie Ann’s. I’m saving all the J-Street money I have left to use over there.
GW spending money to help people know a place on campus exists and has food? What sort of advertising could possibly be done to outweigh the terrible service and inedible food that the Metro Diner serves?
I ate there one time at the start of last year. They forgot my order, when I got my food after 20 minutes it was the wrong order. When I got my actual food another 10 minutes later I felt sick halfway through eating it. No amount of PR is going to change how terrible it is.
THYME2013
It doesn’t get any better than high prices, long waits, horrible personalities, and mediocre hamburgers! OH WAIT… now we’ll get to know it exists every time we walk out of our dorm room elevator and see a flyer.
Why are you developing a marketing strategy, when students are already required to spend their money there? This is beyond stupid. Kill the monopoly.
J-Street is a delicious dining option for GW Students. I cannot wait to go to the Metro Diner when I return for alumni weekend!
BRING BACK WENDY’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about this for a new logo?
“GW: Where Social Media is the Solution to Every Problem”