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Task force proposes new student meal plan To make residence living more appealing, a task force has recommended a meal plan that students could tailor to their own eating preferences. The task force on residence and dining hall budgets has asked the committee on colleges to consider a declining balance meal plan before the university calls for food service contract tenders in October. Marriott Corporation holds the current food services contract to May 1998. The current meal plans offer a fixed number of meals -- 15 or 21 -- per week. Recurrent complaints over the years about the rigidity of this "board" plan, the lack of choice of size of meal plan, the limited menus and eating venues led the task force to examine alternatives offered at other universities. Under the declining balance meal plan, students would buy food points at a fixed price at the beginning of the year. They would be charged points per food item -- hence the declining balance. The plan would give students the freedom to eat as much or as little as they want, whenever they want until they have used up their bank of points. They would not be limited to fixed meal times. "While most charges would be per unit, it may be possible to negotiate all-you-can-eat buffets at a single fixed price to be offered at one of the dining halls," says the task force. Students could opt for a minimum, full or plus plan depending on their appetites. The minimum plan required of everyone in standard residence would be non-refundable and would have to be used in the university's dining halls. More expensive plans could have flex dollars that could be used as well with alternate vendors who negotiate contractual arrangements with the university. When the university calls for food service tenders, it should retain the right to negotiate contracts with off-campus suppliers for the use of the flexible portion of the more expensive plans, suggests the task force. Because the food service provider would be paid only for food sold, there would be more incentive to improve food quality and variety and market its services more widely to increase sales, argues the task force. If food were sold per item instead of per meal, sales could also increase to non-residents, it says. Nevertheless, "to make the contract attractive, we will need to ensure that there be a reasonable balance between revenue and cost in all places that are serving food," the task force says. "While it is not necessary for all locations to strictly break even, neither the dining hall budget nor the meal service provider can be expected to pick up the cost of grossly inefficient cafeterias and snack bars." The task force presented its proposal for a declining balance meal plan to committee on colleges on Sept. 23. It would like to hear what the rest of the university community thinks before it returns to the committee for final discussion of the plan Oct. 7. For more information, contact John Burbidge, chair of the six-person task force and associate vice-president student services, at 748-1494 or by e-mail at jburbidge@trentu.ca. |
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Last updated: September 26, 1997