Client Success Story - Middlebury College

Campus Catering

Middlebury College's Dining Events department handles over 3,000 events per year, ranging from afternoon coffee breaks to elegant banquets for more than 2,000 attendees.

”We have used EventMaster PLUS! for a few years now, and the system has really helped us manage the details of our many events,“ says Darby Crum, Dining Events Manager at Middlebury College. ”It gives us one place to look for all the details of an event, rather than relying on countless strings of phone calls, emails, and faxes. When we have all of this information in hand right away, it gives us a great head start to an event.“

Another advantage of the EventMaster PLUS! software is the elimination of guesswork when it comes to recurring events. ”EventMaster's packages and superpackages let us customize the system to fit our needs,“ says Crum. ”For example, we have a person on-campus who likes to hold 'Fondue Friday' events every week, so we now have a special fondue package that lets us retain data on these events, rather than starting from scratch each week.“

”The packages also help by using formulas to accurately generate how much food we should purchase and produce based on the number of attendees," says Crum. ”We can look back at past events and say, 'OK, if we have 400 people coming, we should buy this many strip steaks.' Or if the event is held for the football team, we know to plan for 1.75 entrees each, based on history.“

”The notes we enter into the system after each event are a very important step in this process,“ notes Crum. ”It's like going shopping after Christmas—the sales are great, but probably the last thing you want to do is shop for Christmas lights. When an event is completed, employees may not want to take the time to enter accurate statistics afterwards, but if they do, they will be thankful when planning the next event. It frees employees from having to remember so much information in order to learn from past experiences.“

Online Convenience

Middlebury is preparing to go live with NetCatering in the spring of 2007. Crum anticipates one of the main benefits of NetCatering to be the efficient use of resources. The online processes will reduce the work necessary to book small-scale events, allowing dining staff to pay more attention to larger, more expensive affairs.

”All of the events are very important—we don't want to minimize the smaller events—but having a reliable online catering system in place will allow us to feel comfortable spending less manpower on those small events, and focus on putting some 'wow' into the large ones. These are the events where people spend more money and are much more visible, so it only makes sense to allocate our resources toward them whenever possible.“

To prepare for NetCatering's rollout, Crum and his team are holding a series of ”practice runs“ with the customers they consider power users of the school's catering services. These users will spend time in a computer lab with dining staff on hand to try out the system, become acclimated to its processes, and take care of troubleshooting issues in advance.

”We are hoping these trial runs will not only make some of our most important customers familiar with the new system, but will also help generate marketing buzz for NetCatering around campus,“ explains Crum. ”These power users will be asked about their experiences by prospective customers, and we want them to feel confident enough in the system to help get some excitement built.“

Expert Advice

”The most important piece of information I would give prospective users about EventMaster PLUS! and NetCatering is how flexible the systems are—you can tailor them to fit the needs of your operation,“ says Crum. “Also, take advantage of their ability to really affect your customer communications. Rather than spending time discussing the nitty-gritty details of an event, the system lets you focus on building relationships and strategic analysis. It really takes the experience to a whole new level.“