Is the cafeteria too expensive?
When asked to do a story about the block where I live, I ran into quite the kerfuffle because I live on campus, which, coincidentally, is the only building on my block. So, I thought to myself what “drives me nuts about where I live?” Is it that the elevators are always on the fritz or that because the building is on 5th Avenue, there are a lot of sirens constantly blaring? No. What really drives me crazy is the food options.
The number one complaint across the board at The New School is the cafeteria. It is not because there is a lack of food; it is the fact that they are so expensive. The way The New School’s cafeteria works is different than most other colleges main cafeterias. While they are run by Chartwells, which is a company that provides the food for over a hundred other colleges, The New School’s cafeteria is the only one of it’s kind. The New School’s cafeteria focuses more on the local and sustainable aspects of eating.
The New School currently offers 3 different types of meal plans that they started this past Fall: “Fixed” $1800, the “Flex” $1250, and the “Express” $850. If you live on campus the cafeteria recommends the $1800 (which used to be the only option) so that you can eat 3 meals a day. But can you eat three meals a day? Eva Scazzero, a senior and an RA at The New School says she doesn't think so.
In the cafeteria at The New School you pay by the entree or by the pound. At other schools like neighboring NYU and even Hofstra in Queens (who is also ran by Chartwells), use a point system. The way the point system works is you swipe your card as you enter the cafeteria before picking out any food. Deborah Buzuayehu, a junior transfer from Hofstra says that she prefers Hofstra’s dining program. ”I liked Hofstra because they had more options. I could go to a bunch of different places on campus. Here, I have to walk back to campus to get a meal if I am not around.” She says. “It is also sucks that it is so expensive, like I have to buy lunch from other places because I am not close to the main building so I don’t use all of my meal plan.”
Matthew Wasikonis, 19 a freshman at Penn State, says that the cafeteria there deducts points for different times of day, “For breakfast when you swipe your card they deduct 2 point, lunch 3 points, then dinner is 5 points but you can eat as much as you want.” He says the only real downside is that you can’t take food out of the cafeteria. Even on Penn State’s website they say that if you take more than a piece of fruit out of the cafeteria they consider it theft and the student will receive disciplinary action. “It’s not amazing, but it works,” says Wasikonis.Most students at The New School would say that you could probably eat cheaper outside of the cafeteria but I am not so sure that is true.
The two places that are most similar to our cafeteria in the means of food options are Whole Foods and Garden of Eden; two grocery store chains located within two blocks of campus. There are many fast casual restaurants like Chipotle, Roast Kitchen, etc but those all average about the same cost ($10-$15) per meal, so I thought it best to compare places that have multiple options for food types. Whole Foods and Garden of Eden both have by the weight food stations and sushi which are two of the main components in our school’s dining hall.
In comparison Whole Foods’ hot bar and salad bar costs $9 a pound but on Wednesdays you can get it for 7.50 a pound. Garden of Eden has a hot bar and salad bar that is also $9 a pound but if you go after 8 p.m. it is half off making it $4.50 a pound (if you like to eat the remnants of what is left from the day. Garden of eden also offers a student discount of 10% on all purchases if you show your student i.d. The salad bar in the cafeteria is 8.95 for the salad bar and 8.96 (yes there is a one cent difference) for the hot bar.
So the price difference, unless you only eat after 8 p.m. at Garden of Eden, is actually quite minimal. The only upside to eating at Garden or Whole Foods is that they have more options in one day than the cafeteria does. Let’s see if you can determine where this food is from and how much it might cost. You may be surprised by what you find.
Can you determine how much this food is and where it is from?
Q1: This meal is from the cafeteria, how much do you think it costs?
- a. $11.88
- b. $14.56
- c. $13.48
- d. $12.37
Q2: Who do you think has the cheapest California Roll?
- a. The Cafeteria
- b. Whole Foods
- c. Garden of Eden
- d. They are all the same
Q3: How much would 6 oz of fruit cost you at the cafeteria?
- a. $6.84
- b. $5.37
- c. $3.92
- d. $4.53
Q4: Who has the cheapest pizza (2 slices vs. the cafeteria's personal sized pizza)?
- a. Joe's pizza
- b. The cafeteria
- c. Champion Pizza
- d. Slice & co
Q5: Where is this meal from and how much did it cost?
- a. Garden of Eden $12.76
- b. Whole Foods $13.99
- c. You made it for $10.43
- d. The Cafeteria $11.19
Q6: Does the cafeteria charge extra for Guacamole?
- a. Yes $1
- b. Yes $1.79
- c. No
- d. I don't know
When you compare the cafeteria to establishments that sell similar types of food, it really isn’t different in price. What might help students who feel the cafeteria is too pricy, would be to determine what meal plan would actually work best for their eating habits rather than trying to differentiate between the very vague options on the school’s website.
If you get a normal amount of food, let's say 3 meals; a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast, a sandwich with chips for lunch, and a pizza for dinner you should spend about $22 which is the price of most entrees at regular restaurants in New York City. But because some foods are done by weight, the price can be more. If you wanted to have yogurt and fruit, it may actually cost you more than the fixed price of the bagel and cream cheese. Still, some students don’t always spend all of their meal plans.
James (asked to not have his last name mentioned because he works for the union), a cashier in the university center dining hall, said that he is surprised that so many people complain about the prices. “The most popular things that people buy in the cafeteria are pizza and probably the hot bar or burgers, but at the end of the semester, kids come in and buy a ton of the prepackaged food to try to eat up their meal plan because they didn’t spend enough money because those are most expensive and last longer.” The quiz below will show you what meal plan would work best for based on how you eat in the cafeteria. This quiz does not take into account any off campus spending that you may do on food. The results will either be “the fixed”, “the flex”, “the express”, or it will suggest that you don’t need a meal plan.
While the cafeteria may seem expensive, it may actually be the better choice for students who prefer not to cook for themselves.