Over-Spending Equals Loss of Entity

Georgia Southern’s Eagle Dining Services (EDS) is a major component for many student’s everyday lives, but with recent data showcasing EDS suffering a financial lost with over budgeting, some entities could possibly lose their value in the EDS.

In June 2015, EDS budget list was released, stating that four of the thirteen eagle dining services entities had a net income over the set budget created in the beginning of the fiscal year. In total, Catering, Gus Mart (located in the Russell Union), Gus Mart 2 (located in the IT building) and Freshens fell over $271,000 over budget.

Although the large amount that is over budget may place a little bit of scare amongst EDS, Mark Braswell, Director of Retail Brands and Catering explains the amount results from cost of brand new entities usually taking a couple of years for revenue to come in.

“These are all new concepts and with any new venture you need a year or two to know your labor needs, what menu items are successful and what needs to be removed or changed,” Braswell said.

Gus Mart opened its doors in Fall 2014 and Gus Mart It opened it doors in Fall 2015.

Although Eagle Dining has set to have a set budget, it does not appear that way. According Jeffrey Yawn, Executive Director of Eagle Dining Services, EDS create blueprints to analyze needed financial resources in order to keep EDS entities afloat

“An annual budget is not given to EDS. We work with the leadership of each of the entities and analyze what has transcribed in the past to create a guideline for what we have moving forward for the upcoming fiscal year,” Yawn said. “It is based on the past history ofour revenue, expenses and costs of goods."

Even though the new business venture do take time generate income, the main concern is to stay on top of the entity budget itself. If not, there will be multiple repercussions that the business will have to endure, including the loss of the entities as whole

“The ultimate consequence of continually exceeding cost expectations is losing that entity on campus,” Sharon Singleton, Director of Retail Brands and Catering, said. “If there is a lack of participation in an entity, we have a responsibility to our campus to maintain financial stability.

Although the lost wages can cause major conflict for each entity, as well as EDS itself, in order to maintain EDS and its funding, the participation from students will likely determine if an entity
is necessary for future usage.

Although the lost wages can cause major conflict for each entity, as well as EDS itself, in
order to maintain EDS and its funding, the participation from students will likely determine if an entity is necessary for future usage.

“We absolutely understand that participation is derived from the quality of foods and service we provide and we are continually looking at things this way,” Crawford said. “We are working
on maintaining the budget for future years by continuing to create an environment that encourages student participation.”