St. Edward’s University made the switch to Chartwells dining services this year, bringing many changes to the structure of students’ meal plans. Topper Eats, our new dining service, has received mixed reactions. Topper Tender was replaced with Flex Dollars and meal plan balances were replaced with meal swipes. Most notably, the first floor Hunt Hall cafeteria has closed, leaving the SoCo Market as our only large dining area. I am disappointed over the loss of Hunt because I enjoyed having more options for places to eat on campus and I fear that SoCo will often be too crowded to enjoy my time there.
A number of these changes have been welcomed by the student body, including the environmentally-friendly reusable, returnable to-go containers, extended hours and the Allergen ID Card available through Topper Eats. I’m excited about these changes; I strongly support the environment-conscious initiative, and the thoughtfulness toward students with dietary restrictions.
However, many of the new policies have caused upset among students, including myself. When opting for a to-go container, students are not permitted to sit and eat in SoCo. This, in particular, is frustrating because I often have enough time between classes to grab food and eat with friends, but not time to finish the whole meal, hence using a to-go container. If I’m paying for the meal plan, using a meal swipe for the food and buying the to-go container, I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t be able to sit and eat in SoCo. The QR-code ordering system is buggy, slow and eliminates friendly interaction between students and cooks. During these first few weeks of the semester, I’ve missed talking to Edgar at the pasta station, and instead have to awkwardly walk up to the staff, scan the QR code, and walk away until it’s ready.
The school has recently responded to student concerns, leaving me cautiously optimistic. A common complaint has been the new seating arrangement in SoCo. Instead of separate tables where students can eat with their friends, there was a long, high school cafeteria-like table running through the middle of the room. This made the dining area more crowded and difficult to navigate. As of Sep. 8, SoCo’s seating has been reverted to the smaller, separate tables we all know and love.
My qualms with the changes include the lack of a commuter lounge, the value of meal equivalencies and the differences in how students can spend their meal plans.
Previously, the second “dining” room in SoCo was a designated lounge for commuter students to go between classes. The lounge had microwaves, lockers and comfortable seating. This allowed students who brought their own food to join their friends who ate at SoCo, and offered commuters an area to store their belongings during the day. Under the new system, all students must use a swipe or pay to enter the cafeteria, even if they’re not getting food.
Meal equivalences turn one meal swipe into a $10 credit to be used as Flex Dollars. Regular meal swipes can only be used at SoCo, forcing students to use their limited amount of Flex Dollars at Meadows Coffeehouse and Grab & Goat. Meal equivalences are limited to two per week, totaling $20. Although the ability to shift meal swipe funds to Flex seems like a good idea, in practice, it’s underwhelming. Common snacks at Grab & Goat are typically $4 and change, and drinks at Meadows cost upwards of $5. If I wanted to get a breakfast taco, a blueberry muffin, and a drink, I would still have to use Flex Dollars to pay the difference. The $10 credit doesn’t hold great value at either Meadows or Grab & Goat, forcing students to cover the excess cost by spending the rest of their Flex or paying from their own pocket.
Students’ meal plans can only be used once every half-hour. This means if a student swipes into SoCo, then wants to go get something else, they have to either wait or pay out of pocket. I ran into this the first week of classes. I swiped into SoCo, then realized I wanted to use the to-go containers, since I only had a 20-minute break between classes. I was told to either wait half an hour or pay a different way, so I ended up using my credit card to just get it over with. I felt annoyed and confused by this policy, I’m curious what the reasoning behind it is, given the drawbacks.
Students are also not allowed to reenter SoCo without swiping in again, although I’m not sure how strongly enforced that is. This policy brings the dilemma of a student needing to use the bathroom in the middle of their meal, and then being forced to spend more of their meal plan to get back inside.
My most pressing concern is how students are able to spend the different parts of their meal plans. I think the meal plan changes are not worth the money we spend because of how restricted the meal swipes and Flex Dollars are, how expensive snacks and drinks are at Meadows and Grab & Goat, and how the sum of money that makes up our meal plan is not adaptable to different student’s habits or dining preferences. Last semester, I primarily ate at Meadows and Grab & Goat. This semester, that’s not a financially viable option anymore because I’m limited to the amount of Flex Dollars and meal equivalencies in my meal plan. The benefits of the restructuring are almost completely canceled out by our inability to use our meal plan at multiple places, and because of the limited resources we now have.
Flex Dollar usage is incredibly limited compared to Topper Tender. Topper Tender could be used at the bookstore, Meadows, Equity Cafe, Grab & Goat, SoCo and the local Cabo Bob’s, while Flex Dollars are limited to the Grab & Goat, Meadows and SoCo. This puts the financial burden of textbooks and class supplies on the student’s bank account, rather than their pre-paid meal plan, as well as limiting how often students are able to support a popular, alumni-founded local business such as Cabo Bob’s.
Overall, I believe that St. Edward’s and Chartwells have good intentions for this restructuring. It seems as though they’re concerned with sustainability and are willing to act on student complaints, but it still leaves much to be desired.
