Space may be the “final frontier” but rocket scientists still have down-to-earth appetites. Maybe that's why, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, the responsibility for feeding some 5,000 scientists, engineers, academics, administrators and other professionals — plus another thousand or so support personnel — falls to a department historically attuned to the down-to-earth dining habits of college students.

That department is the campus dining services of JPL's next-door neighbor and parent organization, the California Institute of Technology, better known as Caltech. JPL is operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under contract with Caltech.

For JPL, whose main complex sits directly adjacent to the Caltech campus, Caltech Dining Services (CDS) manages four cafes (one offsite) and a pair of kiosks, and also provides onsite catering. It's a different kind of operation for CDS, one that is managed as a distinct operation from the campus dining activities. Dining at JPL has its own P&L, facilities, personnel and menus.

The relationship gives CDS advantages in economies of scale, especially in the area of purchasing. On the other hand, it requires the department to develop and maintain a dining program that can meet the needs of a somewhat different customer base, one with different perspectives than the young adults at its university venues.

To meet that challenge, CDS has responded recently with a menu reinvention program designed to better appeal to JPL customers. Early returns on the revamp have been positive even in the face of the economic slowdown that has JPL staffers as concerned as those at any other B&I location.

Organizational Symmetry

JPL engaged CDS to manage its onsite foodservice seven years ago, replacing a traditional contract management company.

AT A GLANCE What: Caltech Dining at JPL Locations: 4 cafes, 2 kiosks Onsite Population: 6,000 Meal Count: 7,500/week Revenues: $4.5 million, incl. JPL Store Dining Staff: 50, incl. 4 managers Management: Bonnie Gerszt, dining & JPL Store liaison; Marvin Greenberg, general manager, Caltech Dining Services; Ralph Gonzales, Joel Miranda, Patty Robles, cafe managers; Martha De La Torre, catering/operations supervisor

“It's a kind of a hybrid of contract relationship,” explains Bonnie Gerszt, Dining & JPL Store liaison. “We work for the same people, the same organization. We are all Caltech employees. My paycheck says California Institute of Technology.”

“JPL's management is very committed to partnership with the university,” she adds. “Caltech is one of the finest science/engineering institutes in the world and we are one of the finest science and engineering facilities in the world, so there's always been lots of collaboration between campus and the lab on many, many different levels.”

Despite that, the JPL environment poses cultural and operational challenges for CDS.

There's no meal plan, for one thing, to provide a guaranteed revenue base. It's all retail and, like most B&Is, primarily a lunch business. And, unlike many college students, JPL's adult staff is very sensitive to economic conditions. When times are hard, onsite dining is affected.

To keep up customer counts and improve satisfaction, CDS initiated a major redesign of its program in the past year. The reinvention includes upgrades of many of the ingredients used, more fresh preparation onsite and a greater attention to menu variety.

“You can't have the attitude that the customer is a prisoner,” says Marvin Greenberg, CDS's general manager at JPL. “He can go elsewhere. We're only a few miles out of a community that has a fair number of restaurants, so we have to fight for our customers as if we were out in the real world.”

Part of the campaign to keep those customers onsite involves substituting higher-end products like all-breast meat turkey, premium burger patties and eye of round pork cuts in some of the offerings. Of course, these products come with higher price tags, but CDS mitigates that with aggressive use of its volume clout, combining purchases for the campus and JPL programs. It has consolidated around a limited number of vendors that can supply product for both operations.

“We use many of the same products at both sites, but they have a much more diversified menu there than we have here,” Greenberg says. Where menu items overlap, the same ingredients are used. The operations share the volume discounts, since they are part of the same buying program.

Economies of Scale

Another strategy to increase menu appeal is more onsite production. While CDS traditionally offered two freshly made entrée choices each day in each cafe, many others — soups, grab-and-go salads and sandwiches — were bought premade.

Now, the sandwiches and salads are made onsite from fresh ingredients, many also freshly prepared. For instance, instead of buying pre-cooked turkey, CDS now bakes breasts in its own kitchens.

CDS operates three cafes on the JPL main campus. While the daily menu is 85-90% uniform — all cafes have grill, deli, pizza and Chef's Choice (entrees of the day) stations — there are variations to accommodate different customer bases.

For example, Cafe 190 is in an area of the campus with a large concentration of support and contract workers, more of a meat-and-potatoes crowd that prefers more traditional foods. So Cafe 190 emphasizes sandwiches made with hand-carved roasted meats, and its salad bar has a Mexican emphasis to meet customer preferences. It sells more desserts than the other locations.

Cafe 167, near the main offices, draws more upper management and administrative personnel. Its signature centerpiece is a Mongolian grill that allows customers to create their own starch/vegetable/protein rice and noodle bowls.

Cafe 303, in the science/engineering part of the campus where many ethnic Asian professionals work, offers bento boxes, udon noodles, rice bowls and made-to-order sushi.

The standard menu items (delis, pizzas, grilled items, entrees of the day) across all cafes give CDS economies of scale in purchasing even though production is done at each site kitchen. Meanwhile, the unique offerings — the Mongolian grill, the bento boxes, the carved roasted meats — give each location a “branded” touch of exclusivity, a feeling of being in a distinct “restaurant.”