‘Food for Thought’ forum
This story does not reflect the views of Cal Poly ASI.
On Jan. 30, Campus Dining hosted an open forum to discuss issues such as the rising costs of food and the sustainability of their packaging.
“I understand that prices are gonna rise with inflation, the cost of labor is rising, the cost of the food itself that they’re cooking is rising,” said environmental management freshman Zeke Pearl. “However, I don’t think the cost of food that we’re paying with these [Vista Grande] meals is reciprocated in quality or quantity.”
The rising food costs was also discussed.
“I think the challenge that we’re all facing is the cost of food right now and the cost to actually live here,” Director of Campus Dining Jess Dozier said. “That’s our associates, right. We’re having to pay more. We’re trying to pay more, we’re trying to recruit the highest, the best people. So we have to pay, which adds cost.”
Another issue that students brought up is the sustainability of containers from Vista Grande.
“What we just heard in that open forum was that composting isn’t an option because the county doesn’t compost,” Pearl said. “But I mean, like, if you look at this entire campus like it’s one of the largest in the nation, we have entire student-run like dairy farms. There’s Cal Poly cheese, Cal Poly meat, Cal Poly, all sorts of agriculture. And it just seems kind of ridiculous to refuse. Like, would it not be possible to create a composting-like area on campus?”
Campus Dining is taking the students’ criticism into consideration and making changes.
“I know what they wanted to see from last year is more value menu items, and that’s something, if you look on Grubhub, you’ll see there are more value menu items,” said Secretary for University Affairs for ASI Aaron Hernandes. “And really what that is is a cost-effective option for students.”
Campus Dining hosted these forums pre-pandemic and has hosted three since the school has returned to an in-person format, so this is not the first time they have used student suggestions to create change.
“In the past students have said they want to see more cultural foods, they want to see, for example, more American foods, and type, so they’re pretty quick to implement those changes,” said Hernandes.
Campus Dining is currently working with the city of San Luis Obispo to test outcompostable containers.
