Lu Valle falls short of fiscal expectations

Tuesday, February 2, 1999

Lu Valle falls short of fiscal expectations

ASUCLA: New manager hopes improvements will produce desired
revenue

By Neal Narahara

Daily Bruin Contributor

Lu Valle Commons has been a thorn in the side of the Associated
Students of UCLA (ASUCLA) this year, as it has consistently failed
to meet expectations since the beginning of this fiscal year last
August.

ASUCLA has made many changes in an effort to improve Lu Valle’s
performance – the most recent of which was a change in management
resulting from the resignation of Warren Corse, Lu Valle’s former
area manager.

Since last spring, ASUCLA has introduced the Great American
Roadside Grill, Pacific Rice and Noodle Traders to Lu Valle, but
those additions had little effect.

Currently, ASUCLA is in the planning stages of introducing
another new restaurant to the area.

Through December, Lu Valle was nearly 10 percent under budget
for the fiscal year, totalling over $82,000 in lost revenue. Most
of the association’s other food service operations, however, are
performing better than expected.

ASUCLA officials declined to comment on the circumstances
surrounding Corse’s resignation.

In the interim, David Nirenberg, ASUCLA associate food service
director, has taken over the day-to-day management of Lu Valle.
Nirenberg started running Lu Valle at the beginning of this
quarter.

"Once I feel it’s back on track, I will begin recruitment for a
new manager," Nirenberg said. "It’s not my intention to run it
forever."

According to ASUCLA management, the shortcomings so far this
year have been somewhat of a mystery.

"Management, or lack thereof, certainly contributed to the
problem," said ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman. "But
(the shortcomings) can’t be attributed to one single thing."

"Perhaps we didn’t have a proper product mix," she said.

Without knowing definitively why business has been so poor at Lu
Valle, ASUCLA management thinks the change in management will have
a significant impact.

What may have affected Lu Valle’s business is the improvement of
ASUCLA’s food service in other parts of campus.

"It was expected that the brands (Rubio’s Baja Grill and the
yet-to-open La Cucina) would draw people to central campus,"
Nirenberg said.

Nonetheless, ASUCLA expected income from Lu Valle to increase 3
percent over last year, according to the association’s budget.

"I don’t consider that figure to be too aggressive," Delia
said.

According to Nirenberg, business has picked up significantly
over the past three weeks since the management change.

Financial reports for January will be presented at ASUCLA’s next
monthly board meeting on Feb. 26 but preliminary numbers show Lu
Valle coming in 6 percent under budget, an improvement over the 15
percent shortfall in December.

"We’ve realigned staffing levels for peak business hours,"
Nirenberg said, meaning that work schedules have been
reorganized.

Changing staff schedules has increased the efficiency of the
food service lines at Lu Valle, Nirenberg said.

"Lu Valle should be able to achieve its budgeted contribution
line," Nirenberg said. "But it may take several months to set it
back on track."

Another problem for Lu Valle is its low rate of student
employment.

"It’s part of the whole mix of student operations," Nirenberg
said. "It’s just good business to have students serving
students."

To this end, ASUCLA will publish ads and set up a table in front
of the complex to help recruitment.

"We’ve been hiring temp services out of sheer necessity,"
Nirenberg said. "Our challenge is to create an environment where
students want to work."NICOLE MILLER

Through December, Lu Valle Commons was 10 percent under budget
for the fiscal year.

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