Pago 8
Daily Ncbraskan
Wednesday, September 28, 1934
State 's largest operation
UML ilcimmI seme
o needs
DaiJjr Kebraskan Senior Reporter
it takes a lot of money and
many people to feed more than
5,000 students each day, but the
UNL Food Service gets the job
done.
The food service, with an annual
budget of about $7 million, em
ploys more than 500 students,
1 20 full-time wage employees and
20 managers.
"We're the biggest single food
service operation in Nebraska,"
Douglas Rix UNL food service
manager, said.
The food service runs the cafe
terias in every residence hall on
City and East campuses. More
than 5,000 hall residents pay
$1,100 per school year to eat at
the cafeterias.
Rix, in his 15th year as food
service manager, said he and his
managers meet with a UNL dieti
cian to plan each week's menus.
And Rix has to live with his
menu decisions he eats at least
one meal a day at a food service
cafeteria. How does he like the
cuisine?
"Well, I think we compare to
the other Big Eight schools, he
said. "We were the first Big Eight
school to offer salad bars, and we
were one of the first to offer self
serve ice cream. And, we offer
more variety than any Big Eight
food service."
An example of that variety, he
said, is the new way the food ser
vice is offering yogurt this year.
Instead of packaged yogurt, UNL
is buying bulk yogurt and various
kinds of fresh fruit that food ser
vice customers can combine them
selves. In an average week this semes-
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en
ter, the food service served about
3,000 pounds of watermelon, 900
pounds of muskmelon and 100
bushels of apples, Rix said. The
university buys the fruit directly
from farmers.
The university buys most of its
foods through the UNL Food
Stores, 1100 N. 17th St. Food
Stores manager Carl Hutchison
supervises a staff of 19 full-time
employees and four students.
Food Stores functions as a buyer,
distributor and warehouse, and
serves the UNL Food Service, both
unions and other UNL depart
ments that use food products.
Food Stores uses a consolidated
buying method to obtain food,
Hutchison said. Each outlet pro
jects how much food it needs for
a certain period of time. Food
Stores personnel then total the "
amounts requested by all outlets,
and buy all the food at once. This
method saves the university
money.
Four people help with the buy
ing at food stores the buyer,
assisant manager, office manager
and Hutchinson. The Food Stores
buyers use three methods to buy
food
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Dttli Cr.-nrDs3Iy Ketreskan
Larry Johns, left, and Jerry Pewane, meat cutters for the University Food Stores, prepare
beef to be ground.
more than $1,000. The university ers, distributors and manufac- Food Stores employs four meat
mails out the bid requests 15 turers to inform us of price trends cutters and a meat room assist-
for the university, Hutchi- days before taking bids. At least and market projections," Hutchi- ant, four truck drivers, a ware-
son said.
The simplest method, for small
purchases, involves calling a sup
plier and ordering food.
Second, Hutchison said he uses
son said. They also read period"- house supervisor and aide, four
calsto keep up on crop conditions, full-time clerks and four students.
The warehouse contains sev-
three suppliers must bid before
the public bid opening can be
held, he said. Hutchison, a 1971 UNL gradu-
This method, which is most ate, said Food Stores' goal is to eral refrigerated rooms to store
frequently used, can present pro- break even each year. perishable items, a large freezer
informal bidding to make larger blems for the university, Hutchi- The university bought $3.4 mil- room and plenty of space for dry
purchases under $1,000. son said. If the market for a lion m products from Food Stores gooes and canned pop.
"We call at least three venders commodity changes drastically last year, he said. The freezer room, which spans
and get a formal quotation from in the 1 5 days between bid notiS- Food Stores is a self-sustaining about. 100 feet and has 30-foot-
them," he said. The buyer then caiton and the bid opening, the operation, which means the uni- high ceilings, keeps food at a
decides which bid to accept, based university may face high bids. versity does not budget funds for temperature cf 1 0 degrees below
on quality and price. For that reason, Hutchison and its operation. The large warehouse zero.
The third method, which in- his staff keep a close watch on
volves formal written price quo- market price.
tations, is used for purchases of "We rely heavily on food brok-
holds a variety of goods, from It's no small operation, but it's
meat products to cereal to canned no small job to feed 5,000 people
every day.
and frozen foods.
ampus canned pop sales grow.
Diet Coke leads all other brands
By Jim Rasmossen
Diiiy Nebraslcan Senior Reporter
UNL students drink a lot of
pop about 1,440,000 cans to
be exact.
According to the UNL Vend
ing Service, more than $1.1
million worth of snack foods
and drinks were sold at Lin
coln's two campuses last year.
Canned pop accounted for
almost half that total, as ma
chines unloaded about 60,000
24-can cases of the fizzy stuff
during fiscal year 1983-84. That
figure is up from about 5,000
cases in fiscal year 1977-78,
vending manager Gene Meer
katz said.
"Our canned pop sales have
shown a steady growth that's
almost phenomenal," Meerkatz
said.
One reason for the increase
may be the popularity of diet
pop, which has taken an in
creasing share of the market
at UNL, he said. Diet pop ac
counts for about 42 percent of
UNL vending machine sales,
and Diet Coke ranks as the top
seller among ail brands, diet or
regular.
Diet pop sales rose sharply
with the invention of Nutra
Sweet, now used in most diet
pops, Meerkatz said.
Other big-selling items in
clude candy bars and potato
chips, Meerkatz said. About
700,000 candy bars were sold
through UNL vending machines
last year.
The No. 1 candy bar?
Snickers.
Meerkatz said there are about
230 vending machines on UNL's
two campuses. The university
owns 180 of those, with the
other 50 belonging to Lincoln
Canteen Inc., which has a con
tract with UNL.
Seven full-time employees run
the UNL vending operation,
assisted by four students who
work part-time. Meerkatz said
he'd like to add a full-time
employee to fix broken ma
chines. As it is now, a supervi
sor and several of the route
men take turns fixing the ma
chines. "Vending machines that don't
work can become a liability,"
Meerkatz said. "You go to some
schools, and you see machines
that have been kicked around
and beaten up. But we haven't
had many problems with that
here."
None of the UNL machines
are more than six years old, he
said.
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Nathan Eistvedt, senior, makes Ms vrey tferon t&a foc-d
service line in tlse sielleca cafeteria.
fj ''ff
yptians- strive to share cu
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Parade:
fff'U Sorority Tri-Cycle Race:
:30
The president othe UNL
Egyptian Student Association said
he wants to help educate Neb
raskans ebout Eypt.
Many Nebraskans arent very
knowledgeable about Egypt,
Abdel-Razek El-Naggar said. And
so his group extends an invita
tion to any person interested in
learning more about the Egyp-
Iture
tian culture to come to the group's
meetings.
El-Naggar, a graduate student
working on & doctorate in horti
culture, said the group provides
fellowship and information con
cerning the social, economic and
historic aspects of the Egyptian
civilization.
At gatherings, members enjoy
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lar Night at Dinsclales, Thursday
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Proceeds to Cedars Home for Children p
Sponsored By Miller Beer
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social activities, including potluck
dinners with a variety of Egyp
tian foods, followed by games like
soccer and chess. The group
sometimes shows movies which
it receives from the Egyptian em
bassy in Washington.
At its last meeting Sept. 5, the
group celebrated The Big Feast, a
four-day holiday of the Islamic
religion.
Until last year, students were
the onh members of the group.
"We tried something new, and
have included 10 Egyptian immi
grant families," El-Naggar said.
For this reason the group now
often refers to itself as the Egyp
tian Association of Nebraska.
Anyone interested in joining
the grouD can contact El-Naggar
at 467-5014 eveninss. Meetings
are on thebstSundaycfeach month.