As a part of the Food Away From Home Association, we created UniversityStores.org to educate campus retail operators, university store managers, and suppliers on the evolving landscape of college and university retail spaces, including convenience stores (c-stores), residence hall stores, and campus bookstores. This platform provides insights into merchandising strategies, procurement solutions, and student-driven product trends, ensuring that campus stores offer grab-and-go snacks, functional beverages, fresh meal options, and essential student supplies. Additionally, we highlight emerging retail technologies, loyalty programs, and sustainable product sourcing, helping brands and retailers align with student lifestyles, campus wellness initiatives, and modern consumer expectations to enhance the overall university retail experience.
University Stores serve as essential retail hubs on college campuses, providing students with convenient access to snacks, beverages, and everyday essentials. Campus c-stores and residence hall stores offer a self-serve shopping experience with a variety of grab-and-go meals, energy drinks, and study-friendly snacks available around the clock. Bookstores and campus retail shops go beyond textbooks, featuring school-branded merchandise, tech accessories, and health-conscious food options to support student lifestyles. With the rise of mobile ordering and cashless payment systems, university stores are evolving to meet the modern demands of busy students while enhancing the overall campus experience.
Key food service suppliers for colleges and universities include Sysco, which provides a wide range of food and non-food products to educational institutions, and Sodexo, a company offering integrated food services and facilities management to schools globally. Additionally, Aramark delivers comprehensive food service solutions to the office and factory sectors, and Compass Group has been expanding its presence in the college and university catering market through strategic acquisitions.
The Conzumables Team educates start-up and emerging brands how to look for sales opportunities on the campus of a school, college and university, government complex, military base, hospital and any other public place that has a sizeable campus or building (or series of buildings).
Each opportunity may have its own form of how products are sold and distributed to them.
The College and University: Start-up and Emerging Brands are looking for other retail and food service formats to introduce their products to. The College and University (all types) are ideal not only for distribution efforts but also are ideal to get new consumers trying their products
* There are over 5,400 colleges and universities in America today
The College and University can have any of the following areas for consumer products: a Vending Area, a Cafeteria, a Coffee Kiosk, a Concession Stand, a Book Store, a Sports Training Center and more.
Food Service Providers: We educate brands about companies such as Compass (Foodbuy), Sodexo, Aramark, Delaware North and many others provide a very important service in being the operators of a cafeteria, retail area and possibly vending.
www.FoodServiceProviders.org
The Hotel Retail Group is available to help with your in-store marketing needs (POS, shippers, displays, club store displays, signage, racks and fixtures, etc). We have over 30-years with the largest companies (Nestle, Coca Cola, Pepsi/Frito-Lay) and a vast number of start-up brands (Nature’s Bakery, Perfect Bar, Coachella Farms, etc) in creating merchandising programs.
Our merchandising unit manufacturers are based in America with factories in Mexico and China.
FOOD SERVICE FORMATS: The Food Away From Home Association’s founders have been involved in the Food Service industry (as suppliers, partners and media) for many years. Our new membership will include operators and franchisors as well as others such as food service providers, chains, distributors, associations and more. We are also expanding into healthy option ideas and introductions for their customers (smoothie, juice, boba tea and yogurt).
The Food Away From Home Association will be launching its membership drive soon! As part of our initiative, we are first engaging with key stakeholders in the industry, including smoothie shop, boba tea shop, juice shop, and yogurt shop operators, franchisors, franchisees, suppliers, distributors, and other essential partners. Our goal is to build a strong network that supports and advances businesses in the food away from home sector. We welcome discussions at the trade shows we visit to share insights about our program planning details and how membership can provide valuable resources, advocacy, and networking opportunities.
Juice Shops are becoming more and more popular and are growing in many locations throughout America. You will see them in strip malls, colleges and universities, food courts, hospitals, hotels, resorts, airports and many other food service formats.
Our Grab-and-Go program (ex: smoothie shops, juice shops, boba tea shops) includes beverages, candy, energy bars, brownies, fruit snacks, dairy products, ice cream, sports nutrition products, macarons, croissants and others.
We have been in television production since the mid-1980’s and have had a-number of TV shows over the years including the recent launch of Entrepreneur Magazine Television. Our next show about start-ups is called The Counselors.
The Food Away From Home Association is launching dedicated YouTube channels focused on the perspectives of both Franchisors and Franchisees in the food service industry.
Our family has been involved within the consumer product industry (US based manufacturing, retailing, distribution) since the early 1920’s. From the first generation to the latest, our best practices have been handed down over time leading to a long legacy of successes in the business (manufacturing, retailing, distribution and more).
