You are the manager of the Rockville campus Food Court. Although the Food Court serves hundreds of students each week, sales have been at a decline for the past five years. You suspect that this may be due to the following: The menu is probably outdated, The quality of the food is inconsistent at best. There are long waits to obtain and pay for the food. The physical atmosphere looks dingy and there is no place to plug in your devices. You started to work on the problem just at the time that the Covid 19 epidemic breaks out. The food court closed for almost two years and when it reopens, there are fewer offerings since about half of the courses are no longer on campus. You need to make some changes as soon as possible to adapt to the "new normal". Your goal is to streamline the operation and increase revenues by: 1) identifying the most desired foods, 2) figure out how to speed up food delivery and payment, and 3) determine other factors that influence the decision eat in the food court area. Your budget includes money to renovate the seating area.

Here's what is served right now: The "Grab and Go" section has pre-wrapped sandwiches and salads that are quick, but the quality is inconsistent. Most items are between $3.50 and $6.50 each. There is a "made to order" sub and sandwich counter which is pretty popular. However, it can take 15 minutes to get a sandwich made. Prices are usually $6 to $9. Pizza -- It's quick to grab a slice of pizza for $3/$3.50 a slice depending on toppings Sometimes they run out, or have pizza sitting around, making it unappetizing. The Caf is a popular, small coffee shop that serves select coffee, tea, muffins, and bagels. As your work on this problem, think "outside of the box" by considering new options to improve sales and make the food court more desirable for students/staff/faculty.

Here are your tasks: The objective of the research is to identify at least three ways to improve sales that will help increase the profit of the food court . 1. Define the problem. What changes you believe should be made, based on the information you already have. Explain why you think revenues are declining and what needs to be done to attract more MC students/staff/faculty and improve overall sales.

2. Conduct secondary research to help you understand the current trends in foods service at colleges, trends in seating, as well as information about how food service in colleges has changed since the advent of Covid. Secondary research is published information, not your own observations - although that may help determine how to conduct the research. Include information from at least two sources.

3. Develop your primary research recommendation. Now determine and propose what you think are the best research method(s) to help you solve these problems. Explain your recommendations and why you believe they will work. You may suggest one or more types of research. Include the following: a. What research method or combination of methods will you use. Consider surveys (mail, telephone, online, smartphone,) focus groups, observation, interviews, etc. Explain what you hope to learn from each method. Remember the objective above. b. What sampling approach (random, stratified, area, quota) will you use and why? c. How will you construct the questionnaire? Think about the types of questions you want to ask -- open-ended, dichotomous, or multiple-choice questions that will test your assumptions. Remember to consider cost to administer/tabulate the survey, the time required to administer it, and if you will offer an incentive.

4. Develop a survey instrument that will capture the information you need to find solutions to the problem. For each question ask yourself if the answers to this question will give you information that will help solve the problem?" If you ask, "Do you like the food at the food court?", what can you do with the answer - not much. Instead ask, "What are the top 2 or 3 foods you'd like to be able to buy from the Food Court?", Now you have better, more actionable information! Your survey should be professionally formatted, and include opening and closing statements. You can use free survey software/apps like Google forms, or develop it in Word.