College students really care about food.
If you want students to show up for an event, offer free food. If you want to make students mad, just mess with their food.
TCC just messed with students’ food.
Now, there are few who will sympathize with the college’s desire to stop losing money more than students. And we know any losses must eventually hurt our tuition rates.
TCC did listen to students’ wants. A survey offered last semester gauged the satisfaction with the current food provider. And Subway says it will answer students’ desire for healthy choices.
But it was over-answered. No one said to get rid of hamburgers, pizza or fries too.
We wanted healthier options. Now we will have a healthy option.
Many students and faculty who won’t eat a sandwich, at least not every day, will have to leave campus during their break, losing study time, burning fuel and increasing the parking lot battles.
Or they will just go hungry, reducing their learning ability and hampering their success in the classroom.
It is also clear from the report given to the board that the college’s chief concern was to save money, not satisfy students.
Five franchises were willing to work with TCC. Quizno’s menu is about the same as Subway’s and Panda Express probably wouldn’t have been a good fit for the majority of students. But Chick-Fil-A has sandwiches, wraps and salads as well as fast food options, and Wendy’s has a dollar menu and some healthier choices.
But all four of them required large startup capital to be paid up front, so TCC did not even consider them.
Subway will be cheaper for the college with only $7,000 estimated for maintenance and no startup costs. This is much less than the estimated $134,000 the college spent on kitchen maintenance this year.
The college also predicts the cafeterias on all campuses including TR will bring in a total of $2.8 million, making TCC’s cut $78,000. Just to compare, ECI, the current food provider on all campuses, brought in $1.4 million this year as of March.
The college estimates Subway can double revenue because name recognition is predicted to raise sales 10 percent.
While Subway will probably have higher sales during the beginning of the semester, toward the end of the semester, there will be much shorter lines, especially as the new glow wears off.
So in the cafeteria, Subway won a contract, TCC hopes it won money and students receive a less-than-stellar bargain.
