Do you ever just sit back and watch people as they make their food choices at the Pit? If so, you can almost certainly relate what I’m about to tell you; if not, just sit back and enjoy some of my observations about consumer behavior inside the confines of our “wonderful” dining establishment.
I recently met a couple friends at the Pit for lunch at noon on a Wednesday. We sat in our normal spot (a high table in the middle of the cafeteria, of course), and as we ate, I sat there and tried to make sense of the different decisions that my fellow students were making. I’ll start with the back area with the homemade meals and the grill since the salad line is a whole different story in itself.
As per usual, the grill line (serving hamburgers and fries today) was the most popular choice among the different options, even though its line never ballooned to more than 10 people. Interestingly enough, though, the majority of the students actually looked at what was being served in the Southern Kitchen line before making their final decision to either stick it out and stay in the “healthy” line or rush over to the pizza line before all of its product runs out. Overall, however, the cramped atmosphere and lack of seating seemed to force most of the students to make quick decisions which made my observations much more entertaining.
There was also a significant group of students who would come in and make a beeline for the deli section or the International option and who simply disregarded the back lines altogether. Apparently, these students were willing to wait just a bit longer to get their custom-made sandwiches or the option of the day from abroad. And those choosing the deli option seemed to know exactly what they wanted, for they very rarely demonstrated any level of indecision upon reaching the front of the line. And then there was the salad line.
Not surprisingly, the majority of the customers of the salad line were female, and the majority of those made a simply bag/backpack drop and headed straight to that destination. And this is where hilarity ensued. With the pressures of society (especially at Wake Forest) telling everyone to just eat healthily and try to stick to just a salad and maybe a sandwich, a few of the salad customers would try to sneak around and make secret trips over to the pizza line and appease their desire for a tasty, yet rather greasy, treat. Yea, I saw you pretty girl with the red shirt and blue jeans, you’re not fooling anybody. Overall, though, the healthiness of the students eating at the Pit was ridiculously outstanding.
And, in the end, with about half the patrons choosing milk and Powerade® over the more unhealthy soda options, the students at Wake demonstrated once again that staying healthy is a key issue on this campus and amongst consumers of the Millennial generation throughout the nation.
Joel Fletcher is a senior BEM major with a concentration in Marketing and is also studying Spanish for Business
The Decision Making Process as it Applies to the Pit:
ReplyDeleteWhenever I go to the Pit, there is a certain process that I follow each time I decide what meal I opt for. After my fellow diners and I secure a table, we all scatter to get our food. If it is dinner time the two food stations that are in my initial awareness are the Southern Kitchen and the International Grill. As I check out what is being offered at each station I realize that the International Grill is cooking up quesadillas, which I do not care for, and the Southern Kitchen has prepared chicken, yet again. I eliminate the International Grill as one of my options and decide to check out the Grill section next to the Southern Kitchen. I see that they are making turkey burgers, which I happen to like so I add the Grill to my list of options. Now I must choose between the Southern Kitchen’s chicken and the Grill’s turkey burger, and, because turkey burgers are relatively healthy and I am tired of having chicken every night, I opt for the turkey burger. Upon tasting the burger I am quite pleased with my selection and decide that turkey burgers are definitely contenders for future meals if all other options fail. This particular example of my behavior aligns with the McKinsey model of decision making and includes the steps of considering an initial set of brands, adding or eliminating brand options, making a selection, and building expectations after the choice based on experience to inform the next decision. However, the Pit illustrates an excellent example of the traditional decision making process as well.
According to the traditional decision making model there are five steps to this process. These steps include problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, product choice, and outcomes. To illustrate the decision making process in the Pit we can use a fictional student named Deacon.
During the first step of problem recognition Deacon realizes that he is hungry and goes to the Pit. Deacon must then decide what type of meal he will have and conducts an information search. This search can involve asking another friend who is leaving the Pit for recommendations as to what are good choices. It can also involve scoping out what is being offered at each food station. Next, Deacon must evaluate the alternatives. For example, he can compare items such as fried chicken or Vegan lasagna by looking at the nutritional information beside each food station. Deacon makes a product choice and decides that it is best to go with the healthier option because he just had a hamburger and fries for dinner the previous night. Finally, the outcome of Deacon’s decision is that he ends up with a full tummy, is satisfied, and is guilt free knowing that he chose the healthier option.
We go through this decision making process so quickly that we never think about it. And it is a good thing that we do not spend too much time making our choices because when the Pit is crowded you need to act fast. Before you know it plates, cups, and silverware will be gone and all the food will be picked over!
Posted by Katie Guerra