why the food on campus so expensive?

McMaster University is a business before anything else. So, money. Does that help?

Because people are fine with buying it and paying for it, so why wouldn't they sell it at that price lol

Because most young generations dont care

Originally Posted by Leeoku

Because most young generations dont care

Make it "most young people don't pay their bills, their parents do".

McMaster Hospitality Services has a near monopoly on all food services (Phoenix, 1280 and Willy Dog being the exceptions). So basically, they can charge whatever they want because there is little competition.

I wanna start a boycott of the hospitality, it is bullshit they charge 8 dollars for a sticking pizza that is disgusting

and seven dollar and half for a fucking cold ass sandwich in thode library

What we, as a student body, do not realize is the amount of power we have to change stuff like this providing everyone was on board. If even 80% of students boycotted expensive food on campus, they would have to listen to us and change things. It just wouldn't be worth losing that business. But since most people have their parents paying their tuition and residence and haven't worked a day in their life (harsh generalization here I know) then money doesn't possibly have the same value and these $7 dollar sandwiches and $8 pizzas are fine to purchase.
I wouldn't even be that angry about the prices if I wasn't forced to buy a $3000 meal card.

Originally Posted by HerHighness

What we, as a student body, do not realize is the amount of power we have to change stuff like this providing everyone was on board. If even 80% of students boycotted expensive food on campus, they would have to listen to us and change things. It just wouldn't be worth losing that business. But since most people have their parents paying their tuition and residence and haven't worked a day in their life (harsh generalization here I know) then money doesn't possibly have the same value and these $7 dollar sandwiches and $8 pizzas are fine to purchase.
I wouldn't even be that angry about the prices if I wasn't forced to buy a $3000 meal card.

Don't forget, if all the overpriced food stores close, or if they drop prices (assuming mcmaster droppes rent for them), the university will lose significant amount of income.

I better have rich kids wasting their parents' money, than university increasing tuition for all of us.

live off-campus, it's so much cheaper and quieter

One of the challenges here as well is that hospitality staff are all unionized, which on one hand means stability and qualified long term workers handling your food but on the other hand it means wage costs are well over $20/hr (last I heard during their strike a few years ago) which means unlike many restaurants the cost of goods at Mac is more than double.

But yes, the other side is also that food services have become a major revenue source for a University that is constantly paying catchup on it's deficit ridden budget (due to stagnating operating funding from the provincial government and limited tuition increases, which means the annual revenue growth doesn't equal the insane cost inflation of ~7% a year that McMaster faces. Which means that instead of a service, campus food is a profit entity.

Imo, It's still quality food (in terms of handling/product) compared to a number of off campus locations but many items are at a higher price point.

One of my favorite go to items when I needed to eat on campus was the 1280 $5.75 Meal + side (salad/fries) combo that is applied to daily specials as well as many menu items (eg: Pasta).

Meh.. food price was OK
But drinks were just way too overpriced..

I miss McMaster good old days

Originally Posted by HerHighness

What we, as a student body, do not realize is the amount of power we have to change stuff like this providing everyone was on board. If even 80% of students boycotted expensive food on campus, they would have to listen to us and change things. It just wouldn't be worth losing that business. But since most people have their parents paying their tuition and residence and haven't worked a day in their life (harsh generalization here I know) then money doesn't possibly have the same value and these $7 dollar sandwiches and $8 pizzas are fine to purchase.
I wouldn't even be that angry about the prices if I wasn't forced to buy a $3000 meal card.

That is the maximum size meal plan if i recall correctly. You were NEVER forced to choose the largest plan, nor is there any benefits to choosing this meal plan. If you were a smart student you would have paid for the smallest meal plan, and then added money onto it if you ever ran out using a credit card with no additional fees. I had an 1800 meal plan in first year and ended up adding an additional 300 dollars over the last month and a bit for exams and such. Lets be properly informed before we start making false accusations ok

Go downtown, great food for reasonable prices