Editor's Note: This is the first in a three-part series examining the Dartmouth Dining Services' cost and management structure, and employee experience at DDS.
As costs continue to rise for Dartmouth Dining Services, the committee evaluating DDS has been forced to find ways to lower these costs in order to break even without reducing the hours that dining facilities stay open. Yesterday's announced changes in the available Declining Balance Account options available to students is one such revenue-maximizing attempt.
Although a significant portion of the cost in food services comes from food and overhead costs, much of the cost also comes from labor. The labor cost could be reduced by closing dining venues earlier than the current DDS venues' schedules allow, but a move to lessen operating hours would not be accepted by the students, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said. Topside also contributes to the financial problems for DDS, so limiting spending is an alternative to cutting back on labor, Redman said.
Despite the money that would be saved from decreasing hours and staff numbers, DDS will continue to operate with the same number of employees over the next few years, and, in turn, will continue to draw employees from a 50-mile radius due to the desirability of DDS employee positions.
"There would certainly be no contemplation of there being less employees down the road. We need them. We'd love to have more down the road, but we can't afford them," Redman said.
Currently ranked 11th by the Princeton Review for Best Campus Food -- the highest ranking for Dartmouth in any category -- DDS is different from other college food service providers because it is a not-for-profit company, which allows it to focus on students as opposed to on maximizing profits.
"We work for the Dean of the College, so we are looked at as part of student life," David Newlove, the associate director of Dartmouth Dining Services, said.
He pointed out that very few other schools treat dining services as a nonprofit entity, and that doing so enables DDS to provide services for students that would not be possible under a profit-driven business structure. DDS's ability to keep its facilities open late is an example of one of these services, according to Newlove.
Pay for DDS union cook positions starts at $13.99 per hour and at $12.96 per hour for union counter workers. Wages can reach $20 an hour, with employees earning time and a half for any hours beyond 40 a week, and double time on their seventh day of work per week. Furthermore, employees are eligible to choose from a wide variety of benefit packages based on their family situations.
All DDS venues except Collis Cafe are unionized, and Newlove attributes DDS's ability to attract employees to its pay, benefits and positive working environment. DDS salaries are higher than those for similar jobs in restaurants in the surrounding area.
"It's the best paying job around, obviously," said Renee Plante, who has been a full-time DDS employee for the past three years.
A high salary, good benefits, and a lack of equally attractive alternatives made DDS a logical job choice, Plante said.
For student employees, Newlove said DDS's pay and numerous opportunities for advancement are the major reasons students choose to work there. Students can make $10 an hour starting pay by working at peak periods as well as receive discounts on their DDS purchases. They can also gain managerial experience if they stay with DDS long enough to move up in the ranks.
"Students will do things that one would do in an internship and gain basic management tools," Newlove said.
One student dishwasher, whose boss asked him to speak anonymously, said that the prospect of promotion had no bearing on his decision to work for DDS, however.
"It was one of the only jobs available on campus, and you get discounts on your meal plan and a sexy-ass T-shirt," he said.
DDS also partners with community organizations to hire special needs employees. Dartmouth currently employs 15 special needs employees, working with Upper Valley services as well as Employment Services of Health Care Rehabilitation Services.
The College also works with Hartford High School Career & Employment Center, as well as Hanover High School and Mascoma Valley Regional High School in order to place students.
"Dartmouth is part of the Upper Valley community, so it helps the local community," Newlove said.
Over the past few years, some special needs employees switched to jobs as careered employees and now receive full benefits.
The construction of an additional dining hall near the new McLaughlin residence cluster in a few years will result in the hiring of more DDS employees, Newlove said, widening the potential impact of DDS within the Upper Valley community as a result.
Newlove believes that DDS workers truly enjoy their interactions with students.
"I think for the majority of them, it is all about students," Newlove said. "We see more students than any other department. We serve 12,000 to 13,000 meals a day."
The high degree of student-employee interaction coupled with the fact that food service workers do not have authority over students that administrators and professors do "really breaks the ice" between DDS students and workers, he said.
