Christine Menges |
Returning UP students encountered something they were not expecting this year: Higher food prices at the Bauccio Commons.
Sophomore Abby Neville said she noticed the price of guacamole at the taco bar has doubled since last year. And junior Jenna Warner noted that cookie prices rose to 75 cents. The salad bar’s prices also increased. Some students found these price changes frustrating.
“I know the salad prices have gone up,” sophomore Christine Chen said. “You’re getting the same amount of food for more, so I feel like it’s a little skimpy.”
The rising food prices on campus are a result of food cost increases Bon Appetit, the company that services The Commons, The Cove and The Anchor, is facing.
“We’re definitely seeing our wholesale prices go up tremendously, especially on perishables,” Kirk Mustain, general manager of Bon Appetit said. “Meats, dairy, produce – everything’s gone up.”
Mustain said many of these increases can be traced to external factors, such as California’s drought. Other price hops are due to internal pressures.
“We had just a handful of items go into price changes, mostly because we’ve enhanced the program,” Mustain said. “Coffee all went up this year - we try to stay in line with what the local Starbucks is doing. Salad bar, we added more stuff. There’s proteins on the salads now.”
Although the costs have risen, Bon Appetit is trying to not let the changes affect the students.
“We try not to increase our prices too much,” Mustain said. “Any time there’s an increase, all the meal plan dollars go up. We’ve added more spending power to compensate for that.”
Increasing spending power does not mean the University has greatly increased individual costs for residents using meal plans. Mustain said the extra points have been accommodated for by instating a small increase to the whole program, and then redistributing the points.
Even if prices are high, Mustain believes Bon Appetit will not shortchange students.
“We try to create value for what we are selling,” Mustain said.” If we’re charging $7 for a sandwich, we’re going to make sure it’s a $7 sandwich, and you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.”
To keep prices as low as possible, Mustain said they’re taking measures to capitalize on the timeliness of certain foods.
“When stuff’s in season, buy it then,” Mustain said. “Right now there’s a lot of tomatoes, and cucumbers, and all those great fall vegetables, but they’re going to be going away soon.
All in all, Mustain believes the food price increases have not been too drastic.
“We did a total of eight or nine increases out of the six hundred pieces that we sell,” he said.
Christine Menges is a news reporter for The Beacon. You can contact her at menges15@up.edu or on Twitter at @ChristineyBird.
