While students may bemoan the loss of trays in John Jay Dining Hall, recent changes to Columbia Dining Services go beyond what’s seen in the cafeteria.
In the face of skyrocketing global food prices and rising operation costs, the department’s inner bureaucracy has seen significant scaling down while the price of food at its on-campus eateries has gone up.
“We had to make some tough decisions this year to make sure we didn’t have to lay off staff—the cashiers, the cooks—who will still receive their regular wage increases,” said Scott Wright, vice president of student auxiliary and business services. Wright said the department tried to ease this by dismissing some of its top management and merging with Event Management.
Now, chefs and officials in Event Management can continue to work on campus, and food purchasing is more centralized, Wright said.
Aside from monetary pressures, Dining Services is confronting environmental issues.
At John Jay Dining Hall, large quantities of wasted food have long conflicted with Dining’s “green” goals. To mitigate this, the cafeteria has gotten rid of trays. “Small trays are not the solution, as they are placed in slots on a conveyor belt, so the size of the tray is irrelevant,” Wright said in response to an editorial in the Spectator on Sept. 8. “With the money saved by lowering volumes, we hope to offer an all-you-can-eat shrimp bar sometime this month, maybe have a pastry chef come in on another occasion.”
But the lack of trays has also spawned traffic in the primary eatery used by first-years on the Columbia campus.
“Where traffic is concerned, we haven’t had any problems so far, even in the area near the coffee machines where we were worried about bottlenecks,” Wright said.
“Our rationale is that there is no point in doing this just once a week like some other schools—if it’s a good practice, why not follow it every day?”
Other measures for going green include purchasing local produce and using corn-based take-out containers. The department maintains that the change is unconnected to the high prices of food or any attempt at cost-cutting.
Despite economic challenges, statistics reveal that off-campus Flex has lived up to the expectations of the department. Westside Market reported $11,000 worth of sales in the first week of the semester alone, and University Hardware and Nussbaum and Wu reported $3,000 and $4,400 of sales respectively the same week. Café Nana, the kosher restaurant in the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, may also join the list of Flex-compatible locations.
monica.varman@columbiaspectator.com