$17.42 Dinner
Posted by Ryan on October 19th, 2007.
This past Monday, like any other Monday, I went to the main cafe for my dinner. With a class at getting out at 5:00 and my next class starting at 6:30, it just doesn’t make sense to go back to my room and cook myself dinner. The fact that I don’t have any food to cook with is another matter that has made me eat in the cafe and the other cafe (at least at the other cafe I get food for free since I work there).
So I get what I normally get:
- Grilled chese
- 5piece chicken tenders
- Salad bar
- A soda
Normally this meal costs me around $10…which is ok for the amount of food I get. But this time, I also got a bottle of Life Water and a slice of pecan pie. I’ve never had pecan pie before, and felt like giving it a try.
This time, I paid $17.42 for my dinner. Somewhat in shock, I asked for a receipt so I could check the prices when I went to sit down. Amazingly, the prices I was charged for everything were the right prices. So why did the meal cost so much? Let’s take a look at what everything costs a studen when they buy it.
- Pecan Pie - $1.75
- 32 oz soda from the fountain - $1.99
- 0.75lb of stuff from the salad bar @$5.79/lb - $4.28
- 5pc chicken tenders - $4.99
- Grilled cheese - $2.02
- Bottle of Life Water - $2.39
Looking at that, I was shocked. I know that it doesn’t cost that much for the soda. A trip to the salad bar should not cost that much. The Life Water definitely should not be that much. The chicken tenders aren’t worth a buck a piece, and the grilled cheese looked like it had been on the side of the grill for a bit too long. The pecan pie was good…it was worth the $1.75 I got charged for it.
So why can Chartwells get away with this? Because they are the only vender on campus. If we had more space, we could possibly get other venders in. But unfortunately, there is nowhere else to put venders, and we cannot build on the main campus anymore. Yes, we can order delivery from several of the pizza, Chinese, Italian places in town, but it still does not do anything to force Chartwells to be competitive with their pricing. But until something happens, students will be forced to pay an arm and a leg for food.
Ryan,as a food service pro I feel as you seem to be somewhat intellegent you are misguided. Try purchasing the food you mentioned at the local supermarket, what does it cost you…………Now….add some of the other costs Chartwells has to produce that meal…..Purchasing managers, recievers, prep cooks, line cooks, food servers, cashiers, table cleaners, dish washers…..don’t forget the price of soap, china, papergoods, trash removal electric and gas bills, equipment repairs ect….you see it is the service you are paying for and not just the food…also you work in a sandwich shop so you also know how hard it is to do the work…..we would love to charge you less but unfortunately we are in the same boat you are in…we have to send our children to college too.