Snacking between classes a matter of convenience: Aramark Corp. sees sales rise 42 percent at CMU after Jan. opening of C3Express

Nation's Restaurant News, April 18, 2005 by Paul King

MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH. -- Pearce Hall, on the campus of Central Michigan University here, is more than a simple classroom building. It also is a major thoroughfare, used as a shortcut for students coming from a nearby parking lot on their way to other buildings.

For that reason, Pearce became the first site for a scaled-down convenience store designed by the Campus Services division of Aramark Corp.

C3Express was unveiled on the 20,000-student campus in January, replacing a small kiosk that sold Blimpie sandwiches and assorted snacks and beverages.

"We had an ideal location that was just begging for a concept like this," said Jill Coughlin, marketing manager for Aramark at the university. "The location had outgrown what we had set up there--a cart we had nicknamed the Blimpie Cart Choo Choo Train."

Students and faculty members were clamoring for a wider variety of menu items, added Paul Kramer, a district manager for Aramark who oversees nine campuses in Michigan.

"The Blimpie cart was big, it was bulky and it was not very attractive," Kramer said. "There was a lot of hardware between you and the student customers. With C3Express we can service multiple dayparts with a variety of grab-and-go items, such as gourmet sandwiches, salads, fruit cups, parfaits, snack items and beverages, including Java City coffee. We can offer a lot of items in a small space that has a real professional look."

For example, he noted, C3Express has a double-door cooler instead of the single-door cooler used with the Blimpie cart. As a result, bottled-beverage sales have risen 55 percent at that location since the new unit was installed. Overall, sales are up by an estimated 42 percent, and customer counts have risen 30 percent. Kramer said.

Among the more interesting menu items are sun-dried-tomato dip, artichoke-spinach dip, salami sticks with cheese, hummus and herb-grilled pita wedges, a Boursin cheese and shaved-ham sandwich and a chicken Milano sandwich.

Mark Walker, national marketing director for Campus Services, said C3Express was created for a number of reasons.

"Oftentimes there isn't space available to build a convenience store," Walker said. "'This is a self-contained unit, less than 200 square feet, that can stand alone and go anywhere. There's no build-out cost. Security is no problem because to close the unit, the employee simply closes the sliding doors of the four main sections of the store and locks them up."

In addition, C3Express, which needs only one employee to operate it, is designed to keep everything in the store within the cashier's line of sight.

"'Another reason for designing C3Express is that in many of our locations, mini-convenience stores have no branded or uniform look," he added. "Instead, everyone has their own makeshift kiosk. This brings some uniformity to the c-store at a low cost."

Based on the early success of CMU's C3Express, a unit was opened last month on the campus of New York University. Walker said as many as 60 new units will be opened over the summer. In Michigan, Kramer added, Grand Valley and Saginaw Valley state universities are considering adding units to their campuses.