24 | PROMOTION: SODEXO |
W:
www.universitybusiness.co.uk | T: @UB_UK
Understanding the student consumer
Sarah Kinrade, Sodexo Student Experience Manager, Brunel University, explains how her role is vital to help Sodexo shape its offering at Brunel and meet the needs of its increasingly demanding student consumers
Sarah Kinrade has been Sodexo’s Student Experience Manager at Brunel University since September 2012. Working closely with the Union
of Brunel Students, Sarah manages Sodexo’s relationship with students on campus, in a role that encompasses social media and marketing. She is there to market Sodexo’s eight food outlets at Brunel, gather feedback and ensure that Sodexo is meeting the needs of its students. The role allows Sarah to bring together her professional experience, working in PR and marketing for food companies, with her personal experience as a former Brunel student.
I
feel really at home at Brunel. It’s where I studied several years ago and my husband is a lecturer at the university.
Given the different cultures that exist from university to university, it is vital for companies like Sodexo to get to know students well. Social media plays a key role in building that relationship. I use social media to open up conversations with students and can reply directly to them, updating them on the latest offers and promotions and sending vouchers. Equally, it’s important for Sodexo to be
visible on campus and to speak to students face-to-face. Fresher’s Week is a key period for us. We run a pop-up tent with games and giveaways, so students can get to meet us and start following us on social media.
I have additionally built up a strong working relationship with groups across the University, including the Union of Brunel Students, to develop initiatives to help improve students’ cooking skills with live cooking events and demonstrations. Being so connected on campus gives us
a definite advantage in ensuring we have the right offers in place. A great example of this is our Yardbird chicken restaurant, which was launched in March this year and has performed really well. We knew from conversations on Twiter and other social media platforms that our students were really keen on chicken restaurants, as a healthy, inexpensive and on-trend option. Yardbird allowed us to deliver that, at a price point to beat high-street competition.
The whole culture of university has
changed; something we’ve been able to map very clearly through our bi- annual University Lifestyle Survey. Faced with £9k a year in fees, students have much higher expectations of their university – including everything from the quality of education through to food and accommodation. Students increasingly consider themselves to be consumers. They want to be more actively engaged in shaping the offer available to them. That’s why it’s vital we are involved in an ongoing two-way conversation and make sure we continually adapt to meet the expectations of the students whose experience we are helping to create. UB
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