ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
A business case is required whenever a facilities project request involves developing new space or remodeling
enterprise space to meet a new need. The requirement to develop a business case will be determined when a
project request form has been received by the Facilities Management Department.
To be considered, Business Cases must be published on Central Today and sent to the Enterprise Facilities
Committee (EFC) at least 2 weeks prior to the next committee meeting. The EFC meets the third Monday of each
month.
COVER SHEET
1.
PROJECT TITLE AND SCOPE
(Complete a FMD Project Request Form, found at https://mtbaker.cts.cwu.edu/ipr/ and attach copy to
cover sheet)
2.
WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF PROJECT FUNDING? (required)
Available funds
PID(s)
Name of Project Contact:
Review only
University Advancement
3.
Housing and Dining Fund 573
537580000
Joel Klucking (or Patrick Stanton)
Development Officer
Date
APPROVALS (required, department, division, stakeholders, or partners)
Title
Name
Sponsoring Department
Head/Chair
Dan Layman
Dean/Division Head
Joel Klucking
Vice President
George Clark
Stakeholder/Partner
Richard DeSheilds
Date
Stakeholder/Partner
4.
Upon recommendation by the Enterprise Facilities Committee and approval by the Vice President of
Operations, CWU Capital Planning & Projects (CPP) will oversee the subsequent phases of developing the
project through planning, design, construction, to final completion and acceptance. Please contact the
CPP office at 963.3110 with any questions regarding the project development process.
If you have any questions, please contact Bill Yarwood 963.1466 or Sandy Colson 963.1013.
ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This request is for a reconfiguration of the Wellington’s Café dining hall space. It is primarily cosmetic as
the kitchen and production areas are adequate. The impetus for this project is goal of providing
students on meal plans with offerings that meet their wants and needs, in order to maintain or improve
retention in both the housing and dining system and CWU in general.
The present configuration is a sit-down waiter served meal venue. This configuration does not meet
student needs. We know this from cash register sales, student committee input and student surveys.
The ratings for the food are good. The real problem is the ambiance/aesthetics and manner of service.
As a consequence of low student participation this venue is operating at a loss.
One option would be to merely change the manner of service. This could be done, but we don’t think
that the look and feel of the space is workable to meet student needs. The students on the advisory
committee specifically asked for a space that felt more like a living room or coffee shop with CWU
related or created artwork and artifacts. The configuration at present is small table seating and feels
like a cafeteria, or like the food-court at a mall – but with tablecloths. It is not a place to comfortably
‘hang-out’ which is what students want to do.
We are asking for changes to flooring, lighting, paint scheme, seating, addition of an espresso counter
and a possible change to egress.
The total cost is unknown, but we have a budget of $350k to $500k in mind. This is the number that was
presented to the President’s cabinet during the planning session for housing and dining for Fiscal 2016.
We have substantial buy-in from our partners in Housing and at least conceptual approval from the
cabinet to ‘do something’.
1. Problem Definition
The Tunstall Commons building is now operated as a sit-down and waiter served dining
venue called “Wellington’s Café”. This offering does not meet student wants or needs. This
statement is based on the lack of dining sales in the venue, the lowest of any venue offered
during 2015, and from the results of a survey sent to all students in the spring of 2015. On
that survey, (806 responses) Wellington’s Café was the least favorite stand-alone venue and
was listed as the stand-alone venue ‘most in need of improvement”. Additionally 80% of
students indicated that they do not regularly eat at Wellingtons. This is confirmed by the
cash register data.
From the information offered by our partners in the Housing operation, student dining
satisfaction is the #1 indicator of retention in the housing system.
Additionally, since the student participation in the Wellington’s café is significantly below
the traffic needed to remain viable, this operation is running at an operating loss, and is a
fiscal drag on the rest of the dining and housing system.
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ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
Note* Pan Asia, a station in the Market Place also scored very low – but this will be
addressed operationally. (See attachments.)
2. Addressing Problem with CWU
The other dining venues have higher sales volume, some at or near capacity. One potential
option would be to re-utilize the Sue Dining area which is adjacent to the Tunstall building.
This is a viable option, however the input from the student advisory committee
indicating their wants and needs for a space would require changing the flooring,
lighting, seating and paint scheme in this facility as well.
If Sue was reconfigured, there would be an impact on the conference and catering
operations which use this space, albeit at different times during the year.
The Tunstall building has a store-front and is easily accessible to the student dining
customer base. See attached list of desired improvements.
We would welcome University Advancement as a partner in the redesign of the
space. The students expressed that they wanted a space that ‘was more like a living
room’ and that had ‘university art work and artifacts on display’ on a rotational
basis. What they described was something that they could relate to, would be
interesting to see and something that would enhance a sense of belonging to CWU.
If University Advancement can help collect, choose and display interesting pieces
from the history of CWU, we would appreciate it.
3. Organizational Impact
In the spring of 2015 the student dining advisory group, a group representing the residence
hall association, residence life student and professional staff, AUAP, and the BOD met each
week for 8 weeks. This group designed and carried out a survey sent to all students, not just
meal plan holders, and we received 806 responses.
The primary users of this space will be dining meal plan holders, but it will be available to
students at large and faculty and staff – as it would remain a dining services venue, much
like the offerings in the SURC.
At the direction of the President’s cabinet, University relations has been consulted on any
perceived impacts to the community or local businesses. This is still underway.
The primary goal of this reconfiguration is a positive impact to student meal plan holders on
a daily basis. We believe that by increasing student satisfaction with the residential dining
experience that retention to the university and to the housing system specifically will
improve.
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ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
Staffing for this offering is either in place or included in the operating budget (business plan)
of Dinging Services for fall of 2015.
The Surrounding spaces should not be impacted. We have a dining operational consultant’s
report that specifies that the kitchen and production spaces are adequate for this offering.
4. Benefits
The anticipated benefits relate directly to the problem statement above. The benefits are
expected to be greater participation in the dining offerings at this location and a reduction
in the participation in other venues which are at capacity. This will do two things: 1) it
should improve satisfaction at the revamped Wellington’s space and at those for which the
demand has created a crowded feel. Ie: the Central Market Place in the SURC at noon. 2) it
will offer a space which the students can feel comfortable and connected to the university.
This could have lasting impacts on the alumni sense of belonging, and potentially long term
benefits to fundraising.
5. Strategic Alignment
This request ties to the following objectives and outcomes of the Strategic Plan:
Objective 1.2: Enhance the effectiveness of student support services.
Outcome 1.2.1: Increase student use and impact of relevant and effective support
services.
Objective 5.1: Maximize the financial resources to the university, and assure the efficient
and effective operations of the University through financial stewardship.
Outcome 5.1.2: Maximize strategies and practices that optimize resource availability.
Outcome 5.1.3: Provide effective use of university resources.
Objective 5.2: Develop and implement enrollment management and marketing plans that
meet the enrollment objectivesof the university
Outcome 5.2.2: Position CWU for increased enrollment.
Objective 5.4: Provide the facility and technology infrastructure and services appropriate to
meet the university objectives, while maximizing sustainability and stewardship
Outcome 5.4.3: Strategically operate, preserve, and improve the functionality and
values of state physical assets, buildings, and infrastructure
Outcome 5.4.5: Provide facilities, campus buildings, and grounds that are welcoming,
and present the best possible physical appearance, and that are necessary for
departments to achieve their objectives.
6. Alternatives (add lines as necessary)
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ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
The first alternative would be status quo. This would mean operating the Wellington’s Café as is
and as it was recently designed to be. This would result in an operational loss approaching
$250,000 for next fiscal year.
The next alternative would be to remove the sit-down waiter served offerings. This should
mitigate part of the operational loss and would cost student jobs. This shift would not address
the aesthetics, ambiance, or feel of the space. That aspect of this requested change is what the
student committee suggested and we feel would add to the operational success of the venue. It
also should retain the maximum number of student jobs, they would just be doing something
more productive.
Another option would be to simply close Wellington’s Café. This would have impacts on the
student and classified staff, and would force an increase in traffic to the Central marketplace
and Holmes during the lunch period. Increasing traffic at the Market Place is likely to have a
negative impact on student satisfaction, and could even potentially harm student retention to
the housing and dining system.
Attachments: (1) Register data for past 10 quarters by dining venue:
CWU Dining Services - Quarterly Sales by Venue
Wrap & Roll
Lion's Rock
& Pan Asia
Taglianno's
Hot Dog /
Pasta& Totally Desert Stand
Tossed
El Gato Loco Holmes Dining
Room (HDR)
NVC Café
Fall 2011 totals
Winter 2012 totals
Spring 2012 totals
Fall 2012 totals
Winter 2013 totals
Spring 2013 totals
Fall 2013 totals
Winter 2014 totals
Spring 2014 totals
Fall 2014 totals
Winter 2015 totals
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Wellington's
ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
(2) Tables from the Student Dining Survey Spring 2015
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ENTERPRISE FACILITIES BUSINESS CASE
(3) List of Changes for Tunstall needed
Tunstall Remodel (Wellington’s Café)
Coffee Bar (Needed by Fall 2015)
- Physical coffee bar structure
- Plumbing and Electrical (Sink, espresso, deli case, lighting, cash register)
Seating (Needed by Fall 2015)
- Booths, JH Carr salesman coming July 8-10 to do a walk-through
- Couches
- Tables
- Bar stools
- Patio seating
The remaining items are part of the plan, would be great to have completed by
September. However, we understand it’s complicated and a long list.
Walls
- Remove majority of the honeycomb wall sticker
- Paint blank areas
- Remove window decals
Structural
- Garage door installation
- Window bar seating
- Pony wall near the entrance
Flooring
- Pull out the carpet, stain and seal the cement
Lighting
- Install sconces
- Darken the room (adjust overhead lighting)
- Possible pendant lighting over the booths
Design
- Area rugs
- Display Cases
- Menu display
- Lamps and tables
- Artwork
-
CWU and Ellensburg local history
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