COBA, Concessions, and Cash: About $40,000
Since Fall 2013, the COBA Student Business Organizations (SBOs) have been converting volunteer student and faculty labor into cash to further the respective SBO missions in line with the COBA mission. For ASU home games, COBA has been working Football Concessions since Fall 2013 at the ASU Stadium, and beginning Spring 2015, COBA has been working Basketball Concessions at the ASU Acadome. To date, COBA has earned about $40,000 from Gourmet Services, Inc., the exclusive food service provider at Alabama State University. The checks have been deposited with the ASU Foundation through the COBA Dean’s Office for the use of the participating SBOs. Overall, the SBOs pay for mission-related items.
Moreover, most of the concession events are held on weekends which do not interfere with classes, but some are held during the week. In such cases, the volunteer approach is designed to work around class times. Academics and learning are the priority. Furthermore, students and faculty have an opportunity to interact with each other outside the classroom which is a good thing. This includes student-to-faculty and student-to-student interactions which would not likely occur without participating in concession events. To mention a few other aspects, this endeavor also involves lessons and experiences in teamwork, project management, risk vs. return, cash management, and trustworthiness.
The SBO faculty advisors and SBO student officers and members are crucial to the concession effort. The current participating COBA SBOs are: American Marketing Association (AMA), Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP), Delta Mu Delta National Honor Society in Business Administration (DMD), ENACTUS, National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), Inc. Phi Beta Lambda (PBL), and Society to Advance Management (SAM). An example of how the earned funds are applied is NABA’s use of funds to pay a portion of hotel costs for the annual NABA Southern Region Student Conferences by bringing back the “bacon” with internships and job offers from Fortune 100 companies and Big Four international accounting firms.
Opportunity is here at ASU! With any business venture, the cost-benefit relationship of concession events always needs to be measured and evaluated, and room for improvement should always be considered.
ASU College of Business Administration (COBA)
COBA Concession Collaboration Project in Concert with Gourmet Services, Inc.
Summary of COBA Concessions as of 3-7-17
Prepared by Jorja Bradford, Director, COBA Concession Collaboration Project
Types of Concession Events |
Amount |
Fall 2013 -- Football Concessions (first started) |
$6,901.25 (Three Stands) |
Fall 2014 -- Football Concessions |
$7,084.94 (Three Stands) |
Spring 2015 -- Basketball Concessions (first started) |
$4,046.38 (Three Stands) |
Fall 2015 -- Football Concessions |
$6,321.36 (Three Stands) |
Spring 2016 -- Basketball Concessions |
$4,164.61 (One Stand) |
Fall 2016 -- Football Concessions |
$5,121.69 (Three Stands) |
Sub-Total of Already Collected |
$ 33,640.23 |
Special Thanksgiving / Homecoming 2016 Events |
$1,000.00 |
Spring 2017 -- Basketball Concessions |
$5,000.00 |
Total Earned to Date |
$39,640.23 |