I don't think I need to say their name, but I will. Aramark. They really need no introduction, because if you've ever bought a food product on campus, you've probably bought it from one of their blue-shirted and logo'd employees.
I don't feel a particular need to beat a dead horse, so I won't comment on the quality of the food at the Z-6, which is fairly infamous amongst the student body. However, even if the food were pretty good, a meal at the Z-6 will run a dining dollars or cash-paying student nearly $7.
It's worth considering that for that much, we should be getting some really awesome food. For about the same or just a little more, I could eat at better restaurants throughout Carrollton. For less money, I can even eat in a similar buffet-style at CiCi's Pizza, or even get a tasty fresh toasted sub and a drink at an off-campus Quiznos.
Which brings me to the next topic. I love the folks at our on-campus Quiznos, and they provide us with some pretty good quality food. But is it so much better than the off-campus locations that they should be exempt from the market forces which have brought us $5 footlong subs?
Our outgoing Editor-In-Chief, once had to write a piece in this same paper in order to provide the pressure necessary to get the on-campus Quiznos to accept coupons. Well, I think it's about time students call for the on-campus Quiznos catch to up to 2008 and join the rest of their franchise in their reasonable pricing scheme.
They could argue that they should be exempt from accepting the same prices as the Quiznos over by the Publix or anywhere else, due to the “convenience cost” factor, which adds to their margins for the privilege of buying food without leaving campus. Unfortunately, they can't make that claim as long as they hold plenary monopoly power over on-campus dining courtesy of the apparently generous contract terms with UWG.
Every food item on campus is overpriced, roughly pinching a student body currently being slammed with cuts in financial aid, inexplicable student fees brought to us by the SGA, and tuition increases. These prices are sometimes even way out of whack from natural market forces-- off campus convenience stores that are closer to some students than the C3 store offer better prices on every day items.
These jacked-up prices are the result of the contract they have with the University, which grants them complete and total control of food services, as far as I can tell. This control even extends to student common areas like the area just outside the UCC, banishing student organizations away from the center of student life on campus if they seek to do a bake sale to raise funds for themselves or charities.
I have two questions to ask the Administration of the University. First, when is the Aramark contract up for renewal? Second, when it comes up for renewal, will you utilize what fiscal leverage you have to ensure students and student organizations are not restricted in where and when they choose to do food-related fundraising?
If Aramark cannot be flexible enough to eliminate that provision, and no other company can do the job at a reasonable price without such a clause, then I propose for Auxiliary Services and the Administration look into the possibility of extending the Dining Dollars program into businesses in the surrounding community to provide competition to Aramark and thus pressure to reduce prices on the student body.
Because Dining Dollars programs lock students into their system by accepting their money and never giving refunds, many universities have found ways to do this, allowing students to use the dining dollars at off-campus locations. For example, when I came to attend UWG, I was surprised the McDonalds next to the east entrance wasn't part of the school's dining dollars system. It simply didn't make sense to me, because it seemed like something so obvious.
Indeed, from what I have seen this method is becoming standard and not the exception. At the very least, it would fulfill two of the Four Strategic Guiding Principles of the Strategic Plan for 2010-2015. It will engage the college meaningfully with the community by providing an economic boost and engage and excite the student body by empowering us to make the dining decisions on an individual basis, thus helping build that reputation needed to make UWG a destination school.
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