Julaine Kiehn, director of campus dining services at the University of Missouri-Columbia has brought more than a little of the commercial to her ‘noncommercial’ foodservice operation.
She has overseen the construction, naming and branding of two new dining operations in the past year, as reported by Scott Hume, in story for Restaurants & Institutions.
The Baja Grill opened last August with such specialties as Yucatan-style fish tacos. The J Café, located in Mizzou’s famed School of Journalism, is a coffee shop concept with a number of newspaper thematic touches, including a color scheme that’s black-and-white-and-red all over.
New branded concepts on the way
Six new retail dining concepts will be part of the university’s new student center, when it opens in 2011. Kiehn has spent four years planning the foodservice part of this development—managing the design, branding and even the logos for the concepts.
Highlights of the student center concepts are Mort’s (a nod to ‘Beetle Bailey’ creator and MU alum Mort Walker); Kate & Erma’s Deli; Pomodoro pizza café; and DeMundo, which will offer a menu of global cuisines.
Missouri’s old student union was populated by such familiar brands as Burger King, Chick-fil-A and Subway. Kiehn hopes the students will respond favorably to the new home-grown brands. Students ‘told us they want quality and variety,’ Kiehn says in the R&I story. ‘We think we can do that better if we develop our own concepts that look, feel and act like national brands. We’ve had enough experience with national brands that we feel we can do our own.”
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