A New Kind of Dining: Retail Evolution on College Campuses

Higher education is evolving. Consumer preferences tend to be more fluid on college campuses, where each year brings a wave of new students who have their own unique perspectives and expectations. In this digital age, change is even more constant, as technology reaches further into many aspects of daily life. The pandemic accelerated the pace of transformation on college campuses, creating new expectations and logistical requirements.

Furthermore, many of the changes hastened by the pandemic are here to stay, especially those related to technology and its integration into daily life. For example, more than 60% of Gen Z and Millennials plan to continue using the digital channels they adopted or increasingly used during the pandemic.

One area of college life that perfectly illustrates this spirit of evolution is campus dining. Today’s students have grown accustomed to enjoying endless food options that satisfy any craving and the convenience of technology-enabled experiences. Standard food court fare and waiting in long lines to order are quickly becoming a thing of the past. College students are savvy consumers who are driving dining trends, and they expect campus dining experiences that meet their needs and reflect their preferences.

Sodexo is at the forefront of this evolution, re-envisioning every aspect of campus convenience and retail dining on campus. As we carefully analyzed consumer habits, student feedback, and global and regional dining trends, four major themes emerged. These themes can be described as the four economies of retail dining.

The Four Economies Approach

Sharing Economy

Gen Z is continuing the trend begun by Millennials to shift away from ownership in favor of renting. They value campus convenience and the quality of experiences more than the act of ownership. This evolution is driving the development of a next-generation rental market that includes items such as clothing, bicycles, athletic equipment, electronics, furniture, jewelry, and more.

Personalization Economy

Today’s students pride themselves on individuality and seek a high degree of personalization. This is especially true when it comes to dining, where they expect each meal to be customized to their exact specifications. They also love opportunities to discover new products that fit their unique tastes, leading to the growing popularity of subscription services that offer carefully curated assortments of items delivered automatically.

Services Economy

Students lead busy lives. They value their time and seek convenient services that add flexibility to their schedules. Consumers are increasingly interested in outsourcing everyday tasks, such as shopping, cooking, cleaning, and laundry.

Replenishing Economy

Young consumers have experienced challenges with shortages of essential items, leading them to place greater value on the convenience of automatic replenishment. Subscription services ensure that they always have meals and other essentials on hand. In addition, smart sensors detect when items are running low and automatically order more.

How These Trends Are Reshaping Campus Dining

The four economies approach reflects the latest consumer demands and preferences, and it guides Sodexo in developing new offers and solutions that meet the needs of modern campus communities.

Mobile Dining App

The pandemic rapidly escalated the demand for mobile solutions and consumer adoption of new digital technologies. In 2020, Sodexo introduced Bite for Universities, an enhanced dining app specifically tailored to colleges campuses. Bite for Universities brings an unparalleled level of flexibility, campus convenience, and personalization to dining. Through the app’s intuitive user interface, students can view menus, place fully customized orders, schedule orders for pick-up or delivery, pay using their dining plan or credit/debit card, earn and redeem loyalty rewards, and access special promotions.

Ghost Kitchens

The Bite for Universities app facilitates the implementation of ghost kitchens, which allow guests to order from their favorite retail venues and pick their food up from one centralized location. This model extends availability and operating hours, providing more variety in dining choices and improving student satisfaction. Campuses have gone from offering pick-up and delivery from five restaurant concepts on campus to 10 by implementing a ghost kitchen model.

Delivery Robots

Contactless delivery enhances convenience and enables busy students to outsource food delivery to a particularly fun helper: semi-autonomous delivery robots. Sodexo partnered with two leading companies, KiwiBot and Starship Technologies, to develop a unique self-driving delivery robot program that offers high-tech contactless delivery on campus. Students place orders via an app and specify a delivery location on campus. An interactive map allows users to watch as the robot makes its journey to them. The zero-emission robots use a combination of sophisticated machine learning, artificial intelligence, and sensors to navigate, mapping their environments to the nearest inch. They can cross streets, climb curbs, travel at night, and operate in both rain and snow.

Autonomous Dining Options

Sodexo’s new autonomous restaurant partner, Yo-Kai Express, offers on-demand dining through high-tech vending kiosks. After guests order and pay via a touchscreen, the machine prepares fresh meals in under 60 seconds, using recipes created by Yo-Kai’s own Michelin-starred chef. The menu features authentic Asian cuisine, including Taiwanese beef noodle soup, Vietnamese pho, udon noodles, teriyaki rice bowls, Korean and Japanese ramen, and more. Patented technology, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based data help each autonomous restaurant meet high food safety and sanitization standards and produce nearly zero food waste. Yo-Kai Express gives students convenient 24/7 access to freshly prepared meals, and offer the convenience, customization, bold flavors, and high-quality ingredients that students crave, along with a novel dining experience to keep them engaged.

Next-Generation “Groceraunts”

Although students are comfortable using digital technology in their daily lives, a recent survey found that 58% of Gen Z students prefer shopping in a brick-and-mortar location. However, these young consumers seek unique retail options, with 56% of Gen Z stating they want fun store experiences that keep them from getting bored. Sodexo is pioneering the field of autonomous retail with new ideas that improve safety and convenience on campus. One example is Eat> Now, which offers a seamless and contact-free experience. Guests start by scanning a QR code within the Bite for Universities app to enter Eat> Now. As guests shop at this upscale retail/groceraunt hybrid, cameras placed throughout the location track the items they choose and add them to a virtual cart. When the guest exits Eat> Now, the items are charged to the payment method on file within the Bite app. Guests receive a detailed receipt on their smartphone within moments of exiting.

Subscription Services

At select campuses, students can use the Bite for Universities mobile app to order groceries for delivery or sign up for meal kit subscriptions via Sodexo’s partnership with HelloFresh. Students browse HelloFresh recipes online and select the meals they’d like to try. An all-inclusive meal kit is delivered to their door, enabling them to enjoy fresh, delicious, home-cooked meals.