Perspectives for leaders deciding what comes next.

10 Questions Universities Should Ask Before Renewing Their Dining Services Contract

Is your current dining program truly delivering the best possible outcome—or is renewal simply the easiest option? Ten questions to ask before you extend.

How to Run a University Dining RFP That Actually Improves Your Program

Most dining RFPs measure proposals instead of outcomes. Here is a phased process that produces a better program, not just a thicker document.

Commission, Management Fee, or P&L? Understanding Campus Dining Financial Models

Profit-and-loss, management fee, and hybrid structures each shift risk differently. Here is how to tell which one fits your institution.

The KPIs Every Campus Dining Contract Should Include

Most dining agreements measure financial performance well and everything else poorly. These are the KPIs that hold a program accountable.

Who Should Pay for Campus Dining Capital Investment?

Investment offers look generous in a proposal. Here is how to evaluate what campus dining capital actually costs over the life of a contract.

How to Measure Student Dining Satisfaction Beyond the Annual Survey

Better feedback is frequent, specific and operational. A practical framework for measuring the student dining experience all year.

Self-Operated or Contracted Dining: How Universities Should Decide

Self-operation offers control and margin. Contracting offers scale and transferred risk. A framework for deciding which fits your institution.

The First 100 Days: Managing a Dining Contract Transition

Transitions are won in the details: staffing, communication, facility readiness and a commitment tracker that outlives the celebration.

Growth by Design: How to Intentionally Grow a Hospitality Business

Growth should not simply happen to an organization. It should be designed. A practical framework for aligning your offering, people, capital, operations, strategic partners and customers before accelerating growth.

• Getting bigger is not the same as getting better — growth amplifies both strengths and weaknesses.
• Clarity on your offering should come first; people, capital, operations and partners are built around it.

Rethinking the Kitchen: Why Kitchenless Foodservice Could Reshape Hospitality

What if high-quality hot food no longer required a traditional commercial kitchen? What the Kitchenless model could mean for hotels, universities, senior living, healthcare, entertainment and workplace dining.

• Kitchenless technology prepares chef-curated meals in approximately one minute using a steam-based system—without the labor, equipment, footprint or complexity of a conventional kitchen.
• The strategic question isn't whether it can replace a hotel kitchen, but where the operating model creates an entirely new economic opportunity.

Bridging the Hospitality Talent Gap Starts With Development, Not Recruiting

79% of hoteliers report staff shortages and 21% of hospitality businesses say their existing staff lack essential skills. Our take on why continuous development—not another job posting—is the real answer.

• 79% of hoteliers report a staff shortage, and 10–20% of accommodation roles across Europe sit unfilled for lack of skilled applicants.
• 21% of hospitality and tourism businesses say their current staff lack essential skills—this is a competency gap, not only a headcount gap.

Setting the Table for 2026: Growth With a Thinner Margin for Error

The National Restaurant Association projects $1.55T in industry sales and 15.8M employees in 2026. Our read on what the outlook means for workforce development, technology and operating discipline.

• Industry sales are projected at $1.55 trillion in 2026, with real inflation-adjusted growth of about 1.3%.
• Operators expect to add roughly 100,000 jobs, bringing total industry employment to 15.8 million.

Restaurants Are America's Largest Leadership Incubator

The restaurant industry employs 10% of the U.S. workforce and offers 20,000+ career pathways across 70+ professions. Our take on turning an accidental leadership pipeline into a deliberate one.

• As the second-largest private sector employer, restaurants employ 10% of the U.S. workforce.
• For nearly half of American adults, a restaurant was their first job.

Frontline Workforce Trends Reshaping Hospitality, Restaurants and Travel

Deloitte's frontline human capital research points to five trends—stagility, role reinvention, the experience gap, motivating at the unit of one, and human-AI convergence. Our read for hospitality operators.

• Employers who use technology to empower frontline workers are more likely to attract talent, retain it and gain competitive advantage.
• "Stagility"—stability and agility together—replaces the false choice between consistent operations and fast adaptation.

Turnover Is a Data Problem: Predictive Analytics and Frontline Retention

A 50-employee restaurant at 135% turnover loses roughly $393,000 a year. Our take on using scheduling, manager-quality and compensation data to predict who is leaving—before they do.

• Hourly turnover at limited-service restaurants reached 135% in Q3 2024; management turnover hit 55%, up from 45% in 2019.
• Cornell research puts the average total cost of a frontline departure at $5,864.

From Tensions to Tipping Points: 2026 Human Capital Trends in Hospitality

Deloitte's 2026 Global Human Capital Trends finds organizations at a tipping point on AI, orchestration and adaptability. Our translation for hospitality, healthcare, campus and entertainment leaders.

• 7 in 10 business leaders say their primary competitive strategy over the next three years is to be fast and nimble.
• The top two drivers of success named by leaders: orchestrating people and resources faster, and increasing adaptability to change.