Sodexo Dining Services

the overview:

As former Marketing Manager and Designer for Academy of Art University Dining Services operated by Sodexo, I was responsible for managing all aspects of marketing for the dining services.

Over the five year as manager, I not only grew but shaped the marketing program into what it became. Being the first on-site person stepping into the role of marketing manager and designer, this was a creative and challenging endeavor for me.

The variety of work I produced ranged from creating designs for print, social media and web for internal and external use. I was also responsible for managing the dining services website and social media channels. Besides creating many designs for marketing purposes, I was tasked with creating and maintaining an intranet portal site for management level use. I often interfaced with dining services managers, university staff members and external company vendors to take projects from concept through completion. Behind the scenes are technical skills I used as the unofficial official on-site IT guru for small projects and tasks sent my way.

Overall, my in-depth knowledge on design and technology guided my daily creative process to think outside the box and produce what you see below.

Resident Promotions
A major component of the job and part of the overall dining service program was promotions. Working along with the management team, we came up with monthly promotions. Then, I designed the posters for them and printed in-house. I often looked for solutions where I could use the tools and printers I had in the office to get creative.
11x17 mix of custom design posters for "Welcome Back" and "End of Semester" dinner promotions for Academy of Art University Dining Services.
"May The 4th Be With You"
"Fall Back Into Autumn"
"Picnic @ Pine"
"Charlie and The Chocolate Factory"
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Filipino Festival"
"Miracle on Pine Street"
"A Fine Dining Experience at 620 Café"
"Game of Tastes"
"Latin America by the Bay"
"Hawaiian Jungle"
"Chocolate Bliss"
Large Format Posters
Another important part of the job was student engagement sometimes known as tabling. Tabling meant I was able to engage with the student comunity and it gave me a chance to talk face to face and speak on everything offered by dining services.
Now Hiring and MyDtxt posters printed on 22x28 foamcore for Academy of Art University Dining Services.
Poster also designed in 11x17 & 8.5x11 print and social media formats.
Poster also designed in 11x17 & 8.5x11 print and social media formats.
Fall 2017 tabling set up with my Now Hiring & MyDtxt Posters for Academy of Art University Dining Services at the university student club mixer.
Fall 2019 tabling set up with my Knight Kash, Bite, Mobile Eats & other posters for Academy of Art University Dining Services at the university student club mixer.
22x28 posters promoting mobile ordering through the Sodexo2Go app at our retail locations.
Café Dior retail at Academy of Art University.
Bottom Line Bistro at HULT International Business School retail.
Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Holiday Initiatives
Recently, a new part of my work involved bringing more awareness around diversity, inclusion and cultural holidays. Using social media (featured below) and posters, I helped communicate these important topics not only to the student community but also to the staff serving the students each day.
Social media images used on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
"International Human Rights Day"
"Hispanic Heritage Month"
"Black History Month"
"Celebrate MLK Day"
"National Coming Out Day"
"Helpful Holiday Greetings"
"Helpful Holiday Greetings"
"March - Women's Month 2020"
"March - Women's Month 2020"
"March - Women's Month 2020"
"March - Women's Month 2020"
"March - Women's Month 2020"
Digital Kiosk Food Ordering
In March of 2020, AAU Dining Services was ready to roll out a newly updated and redesigned digital kiosk food ordering experience at the resident dining café locations. I was responsible for the overall user interface design direction. Working with the vendor and their hardware and software, my design translated perfectly over to the final end product.
User interface and experience design for the digital food ordering kiosks.
User interface design assets.
Main menu styling.
Sub menu styling.
Required Online Ordering and Contactless Delivery
Due to the nature of the pandemic, the roll out of the kiosks were delayed and online ordering was added to the picture. The style of the online ordering website matched the kiosk with user interface changes for computer and mobile friendly devices. By the end of summer 2020, for the health and safety of students, online ordering was required for all and only pickup or contactless delivery options were allowed for student meals from the cafés.
Custom designed materials for online ordering for the health and saftey of students while in-person dining was not allowed.
Poster for required online ordering.
Poster for contactless order delivery.
Rack card inserts and door hanger materials for online ordering.
Thank You and delivery process postcards attached to all orders as appropriate.
Art Café Convenience Store
In mid-September 2020, Art Café was reopened with the launch of an online store giving students a convenient place to shop from the comfort of their dorm room. We offered snack, grocery, beverage and convenience items available for purchase with contactless delivery keeping health and saftey top of mind. Orders were delivered in one hour or less between 8 AM and 3:30 PM on weekdays (not open weekends).
5x8 postcard marketing materials for the launch of and post launch of online shopping.
Art Cafe online shopping postcard marketing from left to right: post launch front side, backside of both, launch promotion front side.
Marketing for Art Café online shopping, B.Y.O.P. beverage offer and Fuel Up For Finals sale.
Fall 2020 Launch Semester Revenue
59 orders for $1,315 in revenue
September 2020 Revenue
9 orders for $194 in revenue
October 2020 Revenue
20 orders for $459 in revenue
November 2020 Revenue
14 orders for $304 in revenue
December 2020 Revenue
16 orders for $357 in revenue
February 2021 Revenue
40 orders for $1,185 in revenue
AAU Dining Services Brochure and Hours of Operations
For the Fall school year of 2017, I redesigned and created a new tri-fold brochure containing all things related to meal plans and general dining service information. With each new school year, the brochure was updated as needed and handed out to all new and returning students.
Custom designed tri-fold brochure.
From left to right: front side right panel, back cover, front cover.
From left to right: inside left panel, center, inside (back of) right panel.
Custom designed brochure for AAU Dining Services.
Business card sized hours of operations for our resident and retail cafés.
Hours of operations front side with resident café hours.
Hours of operations back side with retail café hours and social media info.
Hours of operations for resident café and retail café hours.
Internal Website Portal
In 2017 I was tasked with creating a website for internal use by managers and staff that would contain links to websites and online tools accessed frequently on the job.
AAUDS Web Portal on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile. The beauty of the web portal was that it was accessible from anywhere. You no longer had to be tethered to a desk to access websites and tools used often. The webportal was used from 2017 to February of 2021.
Portal home page on desktop and mobile. The employee contacts and vendor contacts pages.
Homepage
Staff List
Staff List Search
Staff List Info Modal
Staff Edit
Client Contacts
Vendor List
Internal Communications Design
In April of 2020, I became responsible for the creation of the Weekly Huddles, an internal employee resource, at the local level mixing in corporate news, initiatives and local work announcements. My role as designer spanned from visusal layout, adding supporting graphics and partial content creation.
Two page resource for internal communications and announcements.
Weekly Huddles featuring important internal employee communications and work announcements.
Employee Handbook
Over the summer of 2016, I was tasked with updating and redesigning the layout of the existing forty-four page staff welcome guide. I used the content of the previous iteration and some of the existing graphics for a starting point. The result was a staff guide with more of a professional and pollished layout, unified typography and updated graphics. I was able to print the staff guide in a finished book format on an as needed basis.
Forty-four page employee handbook known as the Staff Welcome Guide to employees.
Staff Welcome Guide front and back covers.
A selection of inside pages from the Staff Welcome Guide.
The Bottom Line Bistro at Hult International Business School
Custom branding for HULT's new (at the time) retail café from inception through final installation.
HULT retail initial logo concepts.
HULT retail logo round two concepts.
Final Bottom Line Bistro at HULT retail branding mockup.
Final Bottom Line Bistro at HULT retail branding execution.
Retail menu board design.
Retail Starbucks Coffee menu board design.
Bottom Line Bistro at HULT retail Starbucks Coffee menu board.
iHouse Café Action Station
Custom station name and supporting signage for iHouse Café at Academy of Art University.
iHouse Café action station custom 60"x14" sign, name and branding. iHouse is short for international house making "Kitchen Customs" the perfect name.
55"x22" Multilingual welcome banner behind the "Kitchen Customs" action station.
iHouse Café "Kitchen Customs" action station and multilingual welcome banner on foam core.
Milk Nutrition Labels
Sticker nutrition labels with icons for local, gluten and lactose free milks taking the FDA Sodexo Calorie Clarity initiative one step further.