Original fare: school-branded food items can help the bottom dollar while building name recognition and a sense of pride

University Business, Oct, 2005 by Jennifer Chase Esposito

SOME PEOPLE WEAR T-SHIRTS AND SWEATSHIRTS emblazoned with their alma mater's name. Others display bumper stickers on their cars. The younger set may even stick athletic shorts on their bumpers, proudly bearing a school's logo for all the world (walking behind them) to see.

College pride comes in all forms, and it's something universities have taken to the bank, quite literally, thanks to that overwhelming desire for people to buy items with their university's name. But considering revenue alone is an old-school outlook. Institutions of higher education are now connecting with their students, past and present, through university-branded food items that can entice students to their schools and keep them happy while they're there--as well as make some money along the way.

Even more than that, IHEs are learning that the bonds they create with students through these foods are everlasting. That's priceless publicity.

"In the last five or six years, colleges have found that they need some sort of a niche," says Vicki Dunn, senior director of marketing for Sodexho, which handles dining services as well as creates and markets IHE-branded food items for about 900 colleges and universities. "They'll say, 'Okay, these five colleges are my competition: How can we be bigger, better, different?'" Food is now the draw--whether it's at Java Plus Plus, the new coffee shop at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which sells specialty coffees and campus-baked artisan breads to the entire Troy, N.Y., community, or Alice's Care at University of Vermont in Burlington, a special place where alums return to visit the cafe's namesake, who has worked there for 30 years.

"[For] most colleges and universities, the most valuable thing they own is their name, reputation, and brand," says Wynn Medinger, creative director at Brand Logic, a 25-year-old company that acts as a sort of image consultant for universities by helping them create independent identities and highlight their strong points to attract incoming students. Prospective students don't always differentiate one school from another, so IHEs are competing for their attention.

As for IHEs putting their stamp on a food item, it's pride, rather than the bottom dollar, that's the driver, notes John Kandenir, national marketing director for Aramark Campus Services. "Once you attach your school's name on a [product], it helps share local pride."

The long-term value of a university-branded food item seems to stem from the connection students and alums feel when they buy and eat an item bearing the name of their school. In fact, colleges and universities can expect to generate between 8 and 10 percent on royalties generated from licensees of its products, according to Tim Tolokan, associate director of Athletics, Licensing, and Athletic Traditions at the University of Connecticut.

That profit may help fund the department in which a product is made, provide student scholarships, or simply be added into the college's overall operating budget. But IHEs with experience selling school-branded items see the value of creating and continuing the sense of community for alums long after they leave campus.

Here's how a handful of institutions are making their own brand of food work:

It's Not for the Dogs

The most alluring link on the University of Connecticut web site is one to a photo of a dreamy, creamy hand-dipped cone of something that looks like pistachio or mint chocolate chip heaven, with a notation that calls the ice cream "the university's most delicious tradition." The school's champion sports teams won't take offense to that label if they're fans of the UConn Dairy Bar, which has served homemade ice cream for 50 years and taught students how to make it for even longer.

Karen Thompson, an alum who has managed the Dairy Bar for the past three years, says unabashedly, "We have the best ice cream in Connecticut!" Many Dairy Bar patrons feel the same way, with the summer months and pre- and post-athletic game times drawing the greatest crowds.

Dairy Bar ice cream is an offshoot of the Dairy Product Salesroom, which opened around 1954 and sold products made by the school of agriculture. At the time, it provided the school and some Connecticut agencies with products like sour cream, cream cheese, and milk--the tasty byproducts of classes taught in these areas. The university no longer operates the full-fledged creamery, but ice cream-making continues, with some 25 flavor creations--including "Jonathan's Supreme" (named for the Husky mascot)--sold on campus.

In 2003, the university teamed with Connecticut-based Shelf-Space Marketing to help bring Dairy Bar ice cream to dairy cases in state supermarkets. UConn was paired with Guida Dairy, also locally based, to work with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to help package and market eight flavors to the general public. Royal Ice Cream, a Connecticut company that remains true to UConn's recipe, produces the creamy concoctions.

Recently, UConn's branding gurus took the treats to a broader audience. Half gallons can be ordered online and shipped anywhere in the United States. It's not cheap: Two half gallons are $16, and the necessary overnighting in dry ice totals $73. Still, UConn ships a few orders monthly during the summer and does bang-up business at the holidays, when alums are looking for unique gifts.