Free food always cheesy at Westside

As college students living in one of the most expensive cities in America, many Columbia students understandably take advantage of all possible free food options. Enter Westside Market and its ever-popular free cheese samples.

Westside started providing cheese samples to its customers when it reopened three years ago. With a massive selection of over 500 imported and domestic brands, as general manager Ian Joskowitz said, “There are just so many kinds that people really need to try them before they buy them.”

Westside refills its cheese samples around four times a day, beginning at 10 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m. because of high demand. “Everyone likes to sample them [the cheeses],” Joskowitz said.

Starting the sampling program led to a large increase in cheese sales—the most popular sellers are cheddar, Jarlsberg, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gruyere, and Brie.

Beware though, because Westside employees do keep tabs on customer sampling habits—customers are stopped when they abuse the program. “People come in and eat a meal. That is not what the samples are for,” Joskowitz said. Employees do remember familiar faces—one employee who stocks the cheese section noted that he recognized one man who came in for lunch and dinner every day.

Yet, students find it hard not to take advantage of what is so readily available. “During the summer I have come here [to Westside] just for the cheese sampling. It is so filling, you can come for a nice before-dinner snack,” Ruben Gutierrez, CC ’11, said.

Westside uses free samples to expose other items to its customers as well. It offered samplings of pickles earlier this semester, “because they were brand new,” Joskowitz said. Westside will continue to offer pickles occasionally. Similarly, a new type of chip temporarily replaced the traditional air-popped flatbread used with the dips at the entrance of the store, because it was a new brand. But now, the flatbread is back, to the relief of many.

Jim Bauserman, CC ’11, summed up the opinions most students have about Westside’s free samples, “I pretty much do a lap through the sample aisle every time I go to Westside. When nothing is there, I’m pretty disappointed. The samples are an integral part of my shopping experience.”