Case Study · University of Nebraska–Lincoln Athletics
We Watched A Football Season. Then We Stayed.
Most vendor relationships start with a purchase order. This one started with a season of football and a notebook.
How it started
On-Site Solutions Partners was brought into University of Nebraska–Lincoln Athletics to observe. Not to sell equipment, not to bid a package — to watch how facility operations actually ran across a full football season and report back on what could work better.
Years later we had run their kitchen operation for 32 months without a single day of service interruption, rebuilt their storage systems, installed flooring, supported locker room construction, and sourced the equipment for the permanent commissary that replaced the temporary one we built.
Nobody planned that arc at the outset. Each phase earned the next.
Phase one — A full season of observation
ASSESS
We spent a complete football season inside UNL's facility operations. Watching service flow, storage, equipment handling, staffing patterns, and the pinch points that only appear on a game day when 90,000 people arrive at once.
The deliverable was assessment and recommendations. What was working, what wasn't, and what could change.
This is the part most consultants do. It is also where most consultants stop.
Phase two — Planning the kitchen operation
RECOMMEND
Observation became planning. We developed a kitchen plan for the program — what foodservice capacity was genuinely needed, how it should be laid out, and how to reach it without interrupting service to teams, staff and event-day operations.
Assessment produced a recommendation. The recommendation produced a plan. The plan produced a deployment.
Phase three — 32 months of continuous operation
IMPLEMENT
Memorial Stadium underwent a major renovation, with Kiewit as construction manager. The permanent kitchen went offline. Foodservice did not.
We designed and deployed a complete temporary kitchen campus and operated it through the entire project.
| Measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Duration | 32 months continuous |
| Operating days | 280 per year |
| Equipment deployed | 22 pieces |
| Service interruption | Zero days |
A renovation of that length does not fail because the kitchen cannot cook. It fails because a water line freezes in January, a hood inspection lapses, a waste tank fills on a Saturday morning, or nobody scheduled the propane. We monitored and managed all of it so the athletics department did not have to.
Phase four — Execution across the facility
Once we were embedded, the work broadened.
Storage rebuild
A large storage area needed remodelling. We handled the whole interruption: packed and boxed all stored contents, staged everything into conex containers on site, coordinated a contractor to remove the existing storage fencing, designed a new racking system for the space, had the fencing reinstalled, and reloaded all stored items into the cages on the new racking.
One point of contact from pack-out to put-back. The program managed one relationship rather than three vendors and a schedule.
Pallet racking — Memorial Stadium East Storage
A turnkey pallet rack system for the East Storage area: assessed, designed, specified, supplied and installed. Capacity planned around how the space is actually used across a season, not just how many pallets fit in it.
Flooring and field protection
Floor installation for Kornhusker Kickoff, priced on a tiered model so the program could scale coverage to the event rather than buy one fixed package.
Baseball and softball locker rooms
Locker room work delivered alongside Sampson Construction, contractor for the baseball and softball locker room remodel.
Phase five — Equipping the permanent commissary
SOURCE
The renovation finished. The permanent commissary came online. Most temporary kitchen vendors would have collected their trailers and left.
UNL asked us to help specify and source the equipment for it. Chairs, tables, and commissary kitchen equipment — sourced using nationwide buying power to secure the right equipment at the right price.
And "right" is the operative word. We had just spent 32 months operating equipment of exactly this type in the field, in daily service, at volume.
A distributor can tell you what a combi oven costs. We can tell you what it is like to run one for three years.
The arc
| Phase | What we did |
|---|---|
| Observe | A full football season inside facility operations |
| Advise | Assessment and recommendations |
| Plan | Kitchen operations planning |
| Bridge | 32-month temporary kitchen campus, zero interruption days |
| Execute | Storage rebuild, racking, flooring, locker room support |
| Equip | Sourced equipment for the permanent commissary |
We never pitched the next stage. The program asked, because the last thing worked.
What to take from this
You can start small. UNL began with observation. An assessment is not a commitment to a fleet deployment.
One company can hold the whole interruption. Pack-out, subcontractor coordination, system design, put-back — instead of you holding four vendors together.
We have operated what we recommend. When we specify commissary equipment, it is because we have run it in the field, not because it is in a catalogue.
We work alongside your construction manager. Kiewit on the stadium renovation, Sampson Construction on the locker rooms. We manage the interruption around the construction, not the construction itself.
Start with an assessment
Tell us what is changing and we will tell you what it will take. If it becomes more than an assessment, it will be because the first part was worth it.
See how an Advisory engagement works → · See the kitchen fleet →