University of Georgia Auxiliary Services was honored on April 21 with first place in the Best Practices Awards from the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers (SACUBO). The award was presented at the 2026 SACUBO Annual Convention in Dallas, Texas. Auxiliary Services earned the honor for its use of sales and revenue data to drive marketing strategies for meal plans.
UGA Dining Services, which is part of Auxiliary Services, has achieved new records in meal plan sales and revenue, increasing the number of meal plans sold by 18.5% and growing revenue by 19.8% in the last three years. Part of this success can be attributed to the outstanding quality of food and customer service Dining Services provides as one of the best dining programs in the nation (currently ranked in the top 1% by Niche). Another significant factor in meal plan sales and revenue growth, however, has been the use of business analytics to inform marketing decisions.
Auxiliary Services’ business analytics team has created apps to track meal plan revenue, meal plan sales by type, year-over-year comparisons by date, and other metrics. Auxiliary Services involved Dining Services and the Auxiliary finance, business analytics, and marketing teams in identifying the types of data that would be most useful to inform decisions. Using this information, Dining Services has optimized meal plan offerings, tailored messages to different audiences, and ramped up marketing efforts to increase sales at pivotal times in the academic year.
Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Brett Jackson, Executive Director of Dining Services Steven Olesen, Business Analytics Manager Lianna McAuliffe and Marketing Manager Aimee Cheek represented Auxiliary Services at the SACUBO convention. The interdisciplinary team led a session to teach attendees about the value of using business analytics to make data-based decisions and the ways in which Auxiliary Services has incorporated the practice into meal plan marketing at UGA.
“I’m proud that Auxiliary Services could bring this honor home to the University of Georgia,” said Jackson. “The SACUBO Best Practices Award is an acknowledgment of how effectively Auxiliary Services departments work together to provide extraordinary service to the UGA campus community.”
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By Rebecca Vander Plaats