11-7 Meeting with Jim Wulforst Notes

Reasons why using a Duke kitchen will be difficult:

- Just because Duke Dining has 33 different eateries that all close at different times and have kitchens not being used after closing...doesn't mean that they have much control over them or can sway them all at once. There are 33 places, and 16 different contractors running the places.

- How will we get licensing, certification, and liability insurance? We would have to be incorporated, or be an LLC of some sort.

- How will our workers be part of a union environment (apparently this is important)?

- Running an eatery at Duke is expensive stuff--we have to pay them a big commission. McDonald’s, for instance, gives Duke 10% of all their revenue.

Two possible options:

1) Use the small counter, prep kitchen space in the School of Nursing--no legitimate business really wants this space because it may only bring in $300-400 a week, and this isn't very profitable. The prep kitchen at the moment only allows for cold food prep/cappuccino and espresso making.

2) Ask the Refectory if they'd let us use their kitchen space at off-peak hours and supervise us while we do it so liability isn’t so much of an issue.

Other thoughts/tidbits:

- Can we flash freeze food/pre-prep food and bring it to Duke from another location (Sitar style)?

- Do we need to sell to students (so food points aren't another worry)?

- Wulforst started his own foodservice career development project in NY to offer homeless/handicapped individuals real-world training (I have a photocopied article for team perusal)!

- Team dinner with Wulforst off-campus? :)