Like many restaurants, the University of Dayton's dining services experienced staff shortages and limited operations during the pandemic. Joan Bauman, executive director of dining services, found solutions with student-run Flyer Enterprises.

“We have always had joint ventures between dining services and Flyer Enterprises,” Bauman said. “But everything changed with COVID, everything was open for discussion.”

New collaborations emerged expanding use of the UD student meal plan at all eight Flyer Enterprises dining locations, turning over management of one venue and providing additional staff at key locations.

“We worked in collaboration more in this past year, probably more so than before,” said senior Carolyn Haney, CEO of Flyer Enterprises. “After sitting down to talk about how we can help with the staffing issues that dining services was experiencing, we came up with the ideas that Flyer Enterprises would acquire Brown St. Bistro and create First Class Flyers to staff the arena during basketball games.”

Flyer Enterprises, one of the largest student-run organizations in the nation with over $1 million in annual revenue, was up to the challenge but had to move swiftly. 

The first game of basketball season was only one month away from the meeting. Come game day, Flyer Enterprises was ready with 30 trained student-employees to serve the arena’s suites and lounges.

“It was a big win when the students came through with First Class Flyers,” said Doug Lemaster, facilities and operations director in dining services, who works closely with the student leaders. “I couldn’t believe that Carolyn and Trent Kingan pulled it together in just two weeks. They had people ready right at the get-go, it was amazing.”

Kingan, a Flyer Enterprises divisional president, helped conceive and execute the plan for staffing the arena and acquiring the bistro. 

“Trent personifies what Flyer Enterprises is all about,” Lemaster said. “He takes full advantage of the opportunities, acquiring new skills and work experience. Trent also has all kinds of ideas, constantly. For the most part we have him run with them and we’ve had amazing results.”

When dining services was considering cutting food delivery to students because of slow demand, Kingan helped improve dining hall food delivery to ensure the service could continue. He also worked with dining services to shift The Galley into Fly By, moving away from only snacks and ice cream to providing meals instead. These changes, among others, helped Flyer Enterprises hit a record-breaking semester.

“The sheer success that we found this year is the outcome of this relationship,” Kingan said. “As a company, we are up 105% in revenue. A lot of that is because we accept meal plans at all of our locations now thanks to dining services. It’s also because we get the mentorship from them to improve processes, train new employees and fix or improve equipment. We accomplished lofty goals on time, and I think that’s because we trusted each other so we could dive into making business decisions more quickly.”

This mentorship includes helping Flyer Enterprises diversify its offerings. Bauman is nudging Flyer Enterprises' ventures beyond foodservice operations so students can gain experience in other fields they might enter after graduation.

“Everyone is open to looking at new ideas and looking at things differently,” Bauman said. “We certainly value the student perspective more and see how smart they are; they’re ready to get out in the world and make big things happen.”