Page 27 - och1016_Magazine

USC OCTOBER 2016 | 27
At the Univer-

sity of Southern
California (USC)
in Los Angeles,
students can sat-
isfy their sweet
tooth at the new
Cupcake ATM on
campus.

The school
teamed up with
local bakery Sprin-
kles Cupcakes to
make it happen, a
process that was
four years in the making. “I met with one of the founders
four years ago and toured their original Beverly Hills loca-
tion and we started talking, and finally, this happened,” said
Kris Klinger, assistant vice president of Retail Operations
with Auxiliary Services. “We weren’t able or ready to place
a bakery of theirs on campus. This is the next best thing be-
cause they deliver every day, and we are going to ask them
to deliver twice a day.”

The ATM, located in the center facade of the USC Book-
store, allows for 24/7 access to the cupcakes. It can hold up
to 800 cupcakes and features a wide variety of flavors, as well
as specialty cupcakes to accommodate those with dietary con-
cerns. To ensure freshness, the machine is restocked multiple
times throughout the day with cupcakes
baked only three miles away.

In the first 12 hours of operation,
Klinger reported that 736 cupcakes were
sold. “My assumption is that we will
have better days and worse days, but I
think that we will probably see 600 on
average,” he said. “The cupcakes hold at
room temperature. They are only there
for 24 hours; any longer and they get
thrown away or donated to a local food
bank, or whatever the case may be. They
only sell day-of, fresh cupcakes.”

Like the Pizza ATM at Xavier, the
launch drew a good deal of media atten-
tion, especially on social media. “Based
on the social media, it was a substantial
turnout for the grand opening,” said
Klinger. “We had Matt Leinart [former
USC and NFL quarterback] here, and
he had the first cupcake. We had one
of the local news stations here. For Los
Angeles, they made it into a big deal.”

One advantage USC Hospitality
gained with the launch of the ATM and
the partnership with Sprinkles is the
addition of custom cupcakes to campus
catering offerings. “It gives us access to
their delivery driver so we added Sprin-
kles to our Express Catering Menu,”
he said. “With 24- to 48-hour notice,
people can order custom cupcakes and
other fun stuff through us.” —OCH

ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY