Q: How can operators train student employees to properly manage alcohol in on-campus catering?
Underage drinking is a reality of college life—a 2013 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey showed that almost 60 percent of students ages 18-22 reported consuming alcohol in the past month. Therefore, university operators take their role in following the letter of the law very seriously, says Steve Mangan, director of dining at the University of Michigan.
Mangan’s department manages alcohol licenses that cover three student union buildings on the Ann Arbor, Mich., campus. All employees who serve alcohol—students included—complete state-mandated Techniques of Alcohol Management certification, and are carefully monitored by a catering manager. While Michigan state law allows employees 18 and older to serve alcohol, students “do not do inventory, they do not have any key control for alcohol, and we have some pretty strict disciplinary expectations [from constructive counseling to termination] if there’s any abuse of policies,” says Mangan, the university’s director of dining. As of August, 38 of his 65 front-of-house student employees were certified to serve alcohol.
While students can visit the bar at events such as corporate recruiting, Mangan’s department doesn’t serve alcohol at student-run gatherings. “A student organization cannot contract with us to serve alcohol for them; we just say ‘no,’” Mangan says. “It’s pretty strict.” Staff is trained to check IDs at all other events including alcohol, and of-age drinkers receive a wristband indicating they are 21 or older.
In addition to pre- and post-event inventories of bars at every event, Mangan completes a review process with the school’s unions director, risk management department catering director and MHealthy office for all events where students and alcohol both will be present to determine potential pitfalls. “We need to provide a safe environment for our students, and our employees for that matter, and create a potential conversation about how to manage alcohol properly, safely and for everybody’s benefit,” he says.