Foodservice Planning & Design Testimonials

One of the greatest strengths of our company is the emphasis we put on customer service. We listen, we observe, and we ask questions throughout the process. This ensures quality control and a plan that will work to serve our clients in the long term. Following are some recent comments from our clients in regard to our commitment to deliver only the best.

Gerald Tobin, Vice President of Student Life, Mercyhurst College

"I want to say thank you to each of you for your investment in Mercyhurst over these past several months. Our work with each of you was all that we hoped for. Your guidance from the beginning provided a great deal of security for us as we moved forward in this important and transformative process. You are clearly expert in your field and we were glad to lean on your expertise. The early collection of opinions from the Mercyhurst community, especially students, early in the game lent greater credibility to the final product. We couldn't be more pleased with the assistance and professionalism you offered. Again, thank you for great work!"

David Friend, Director of Dining Services, West Virginia University

"I had the pleasure of touring Ohio University recently and the new student center including the foodservice areas that your firm designed. I thought that your design work was extremely innovative and functional."

Mark Braithwaite, General Manager of Residence, Food Service & Conference Services, University of Prince Edward Island:

"The new continuous dining meal plan has put UPEI on the map. Our President is using the plan as a recruiting tool because of how unique it is. We are the only University in Canada  that is offering a meal plan program with so much flexibility. In the first year of the new plan we have paid all of your consulting fees and more. The relationship in the past year changed with our contractor and is no longer adverse to the plan. Just like you said, the new meal plans raised satisfaction but did not result in higher food costs. Students are not eating us out of house and home, they are just eating smaller amounts more often. Students now think what's the point of take out and sales off campus have declined because students are rushing at 10 p.m. to the dining hall at night to get snacks and pizza. Some people have asked "What's the catch? This is too good to be true!" Quickly, they realize there is no catch.

“For the first time in several years, we have more people staying on campus or signing up to stay next year. They are choosing housing with the mandatory meal plan instead of moving to apartments with a voluntary meal plan. I think the move to stay on campus is a combination of a new residence hall and the meal plan. Comments from students this year were outstanding. The athletes think the plan is fantastic, but the hockey coach said his players are getting a little chubby. In terms of profit, we budgeted for commissions of about $80,000 from the old margin and we're now over $200,000. The meal plan is used as a flagship for the University as much as having a new residence hall."

Timothy Dietzler, Director of Operations, Villanova University:

“David Porter has done extensive work here on campus for us. He did a master plan of the campus when he was at Birchfield in '92, he designed The Court and Market at Donahue Hall when he was with Cini Little in 1995/96, he developed an extensive programming study for Dougherty Hall when he formed Porter Consulting in '96 and he designed our award winning operation in the business school - THE EXCHANGE.”

“David is excellent in master planning and programming. He also has put together perhaps one on the strongest design teams in the industry. I am confident you will have an excellent experience and outcome. David listens to your feedback and provides very good insight based on focus group data.”

Tom Ryder, Assistant Vice President/Controller for SUNY College at Oneonta:

“David is an extremely focused and goal-oriented consultant. He worked very well with every member of our campus group from students up to the Vice President level. We found him flexible in meeting the desires and needs of the campus, but also provided hard facts and experiences from his other projects, which sometimes brought us back to reality when we strayed. David knows the food service world and its operatives very well. There are many times we would have fallen on our faces were it not for him. He designed a survey that worked so well. His support staff and he are capable of producing documents that are factual, informative and exciting to look at. The RFP is an amazing document he put together based on the survey, his experience and our expressed needs.

“David is probably the most high energy person I have ever met. He is very personable and worked well with everyone. The vendors found him very direct and very tough at times...tougher than we who did not have his experience would have been. This resulted in many gains for us, as well as avoiding potholes the vendors may have been hoping we would fall into. I had a very direct relationship with David. I have said many good things about this person, but there is another I must add. David is above reproach when it comes to being objective in a process such as this. He has gone great lengths to distance himself from all vendors, except when working on behalf an institution such as ours in an RFP process. In fact, he prides himself in maintaining his independence in this regard. If you want a person who will work tirelessly on your behalf, maintain objectivity, be tough but fair with potential vendors, and provide the expertise to get the job done, I highly recommend David Porter.”

Michelle Price, Foodservice Director at Jefferson Community College:

“David’s extensive, hands-on foodservice operations background, coupled with his consulting experience, made him the best choice to manage our programming and design project. Our newly renovated cafeteria is operationally functional and facilitates a high level of flexibility and customer service. Sales have increased 40 percent.”

Kathy Welch, Former Director of Purchasing & Logistics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University:

“We selected David after careful analysis of the responses of five very credible, qualified food service consulting firms. The firm’s performance has proved that it was an excellent decision.”

David May, Executive Director, Hospitality Services, University of New Hampshire

“I know working with Porter Khouw Consulting has been a positive force in helping us shape our business model. We look forward to working with you in the future.”