CUBO
Breaking the student delivered
takeaway enigma
The University of Kent has opened a new
catering outlet on its Canterbury campus
to ensure it meets the diverse eating patterns
and culinary desires of its students
T
he traditional cafeteria dining
hall may still play a part in
university catering life on
many campuses across the UK.
However, with ever-changing student
profiles and food trends, a need for a range
of eateries with varying opening times has
never been more important to keep student
spend on campus.
Recognising this, the University of Kent
designed and built a new catering outlet
to extend its offering to include delivered
takeaway until 2:00am, seven days a week
on its Canterbury campus.
DIVERSE EATERIES
Part of Kent Hospitality department, the
in-house catering team have 10 catering
and bar outlets on the Canterbury campus,
providing a diverse range of goods and
services to the students.
The team ensures each outlet has a
unique identity and offer to match. The
only similarity is the focus on choice,
quality, value-for-money and exceptional
customer service.
Outlets include bistros offering cookedto-order Tex-Mex; Latin-Americana and
World Fusion; Grab and Go and coffee
bars to meet the grazing market; as well as
a large cafeteria with a dedicated wok and
sandwich bar. Students are even able to
order sandwiches online and pick them up
at their convenience.
However, even with all of those choices
a gap in the offering was identified, a late
night delivered takeaway option.
TURING COLLEGE AND HUT 8
ABOVE: Kent opened Hut 8 to the 2015-16 academic year arrivals
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Kent partnered with UPP and Brookfield
Multiplex to develop 801 new rooms on
its Canterbury campus, taking the student
accommodation portfolio to over 5,400
rooms. Work started in 2013. As part of the
£70m project, a reception hub and catering
outlet was included, offering extended
student services and dining experience.
This new college was named Turing
College after Sir Alan Turing, probably
most famous for playing a pivotal role in
cracking the Enigma code in World War II.
The catering outlet within the college was
named Hut 8 after the section at Bletchley
Park where the decryption took place.
Kent opened Hut 8 to the 2015-16
ABOVE: Kent's Hut 8 comprises of three eateries in one food-court style space
academic year arrivals in September.
The college officially opened on 27
November 2015 by Sir John Dermot
Turing, nephew of Sir Alan Turing.
Hut 8, comprises of three eateries in
one food-court style space. Food options
include fish and chips, pizzas or flamegrilled BBQ items. Students, staff and
the public can eat-in, or order online for
delivery. Although ‘fast food’, the emphasis
is on quality produce. Chefs make all
dishes from scratch, from the pizza bases to
signature sauces.
Servicing demand for later eating,
Hut 8 operates 5pm – 2am. Kent students
can now get a meal on the Canterbury
campus between 7am and 2am.
TECHNOLOGY
As Kent is leading the field in in-house
delivered takeaway service with online
ordering, there were no best practice
examples to discuss with peers.
Keith Williams, Head of Trading,
explains that “each step of the way meant
tackling something new head-on and
finding a way to make it work for us –
whether it was the issue of licensing,
integrating payment platforms or the
logistic of delivering takeaway – all in a
very short time-frame. These challenges
presented an opportunity to bring different
departments at the university together, as
well as creating strong relationships with
external suppliers to achieve a mutually
beneficial outcome.”
Kent sought out key market intelligence
from Mobo2Go, an online takeaway delivery
software provider. This service had to join up
with Kent’s EPOS system by incorporating
VAT functionality, cost centres and product
codes. Keith Williams found Mobo2Go
cost-effective and a pleasure to work with,
adding: “Jonathan Hutchings, Director of
Mobo2Go, is one of those rare individuals
“These challenges presented an opportunity to bring
different departments at the University together, as well
as creating strong relationships with external suppliers
to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome"
Hut 8 is able to deliver alcohol safely and
responsibly to students.
SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE DELIVERY
who truly goes out of his way to help
clients and has met all of our bespoke needs
throughout the development process.”
Both systems were then incorporated
with the universities payment platform
WPM. Finally, substantial developments
took place across the process ensuring a
smooth and reliable customer purchasing
journey, reinforced through consistency in
appearance using Hut 8 branding.
Now Mobo2Go and WPM are linked, an
operational model exists for other universities
to run an online-ordering takeaway with the
necessary financial compliance.
LICENSING
As with other catering outlets on campus,
Kent wanted Hut 8 to be licensed. This
created a new set of challenges as students
would be ordering online for delivery –
rather than in-house consumption.
The team came up with several
restrictions to overcome this. Alcohol can
only be ordered online with a meal and
is limited per order. Deliveries including
alcohol will only be delivered to an
‘address’ – i.e. student accommodation,
rather than vague locations such as outside
at a party. Alcohol will only be delivered
to the named recipient who has to show
both their proof of age and their student
ID card.
With all these rules strictly adhered to,
Hut 8 deliveries are made by bicycle. The
Pashley Cycles are ridden by the delivery
team who are provided with protective and
hi-vis gear. Kent worked with its Campus
Security team ensuring best practice was
adopted, including using personal alarms,
torches and the same protective clothing
worn by security staff, as well as having
radios connected to Campus Security.
Delivering by bicycle fits with the ethos
of the operation in Turing College to be
as green as possible. The kitchen houses a
state-of-the-art ‘waste to water’ system – a
self-contained food waste elimination and
recycling system which through the use of
shredders and microorganisms turns food
waste into grey water which goes into the
sewer system.
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
Having only been open a few months, the
outlet is still very much in its infancy, with
the team continuing to learn and adapt as
they go and listen to student feedback.
Kent believe that as a trailblazer in a new
catering offering and by sharing successes
and learning experiences with other
universities, the higher education sector as
a whole will benefit by improving student
dining experiences. UB
CUBO: Sharing innovation and best
practice to achieve an outstanding
student experience. www.cubo.org.uk
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