The Dining Dollars program implemented this January as a promotional tool for Baker University Center is under review and could be eliminated next year.
Christine Sheets, assistant vice president for Auxiliary Services, is reviewing the success of Dining Dollars and making decisions on whether the university will offer the program again next year.
We've discussed it; (it's) something that we still need to work out all the details
Sheets said.
The popularity of Dining Dollars was almost too successful, Sheets said. Dining Dollars were most frequently used in the food court, with between 70 to 80 percent of meals purchased in the food court being paid for with Dining Dollars in the first month. Sales tripled the second day the center was open, and 68 percent of the sales were paid for with Dining Dollars.
The food court, unlike dining halls, is not as equipped for serving mass quantities of food, Sheets said. The food court serves more customized meals, rather than producing the food in bulk portions, like the dining halls, with their all-you-can-eat meals, Sheets said. As a result, Baker Center needed to initially bring in more employees to help keep up with the demand.
We may need to make some changes to the Dining Dollars program said Joe Brennan, executive director of Communications and Marketing. It's been so successful at stimulating demand in Baker particularly in the food court
that demand is exceeding expectations. It's exceeding the capacity to carry the level of volume it's currently carrying
particularly at lunch.
Brennan also stressed the Dining Dollars service is not being unfairly distributed to students. Students without meal plans do not get Dining Dollars. Students who hold meal plans with 10 meals a week were given $50 to spend at the center. Students who hold 14, 20 and Super meal plans received $100.
It's not a cash giveaway
Brennan said. The name of it is a bit of a misnomer
in terms of Dining Dollars.
Rather, as Sheets described it, the program allows them (the students) to have flexibility in their meal plan
to introduce them to the new facility.
The $100 or $50 is a way to limit it
said Brennan. It's a way to say yeah
you can use some of those meal plan dollars that you already paid to use
but you can't use all of them.
As students are using up their Dining Dollars, food court traffic has declined. Now only certain hours are peak hours of demand, Sheets said.
The decrease in demand resulted in a shift in the work force because many students want to work during the 4 G
