There is a certain pain that comes with being forced to eat the same thing over and over during the course of a year. Even the most vibrant tastes can become bland if eaten too often. For those who have ever had a meal plan, this pain has been a daily reality.
Specifically, I’m referring to the pain of having to eat at Talley Student Union, Fountain Dining Hall or any other on-campus location repeatedly, until eventually what once was a nice burger is just bland fuel you need to consume to ensure that you make it through the day.
Perhaps the incoming first-years are still too green to realize that this will inevitably be their fate as well, but as a second-year, I can still remember the struggle of trying to find something new on the menu to give some new life to my meal.
At NC State, Talley Pavilions and the dining halls have been granted something close to a monopoly on first-year students, who are required to live on campus. However, this monopoly — as well as the monotony of on-campus dining — could be resolved with the straightforward solution of Hillsborough Street and NC State partnering to make it possible to pay for food on Hillsborough Street with a meal plan or Dining Dollars.
Having the ability to use Dining Dollars outside of campus brings benefits to every party involved; the consumers receive more options, the restaurants on Hillsborough Street serve more customers, and NC State Dining signs more students up for its plans and could save money.
As for consumers, the problem of limited options is one that affects nearly every student at one time or another. Couple that with dietary constraints, and it has the effect of subsets of students having ridiculously few options to choose from. We can fairly easily say that those with vegetarian, religious or health-related needs will have more places to choose from to meet their needs by going to Hillsborough Street, and thus more options that meet their qualifications.
A change in policy that allows for students to travel off campus for lunch or dinner would likewise allow for businesses on Hillsborough Street to receive new customers. As it currently stands, there is a portion of the local community these restaurants don’t have the opportunity to cater to. Opening up this demographic serves to benefit both the companies as well as the local economy.
Moreover, while Hillsborough Street businesses miss out on the first-year demographic, NC State misses out on the off-campus demographic. Off-campus students would be incentivized to use an NC State meal plan if it afforded them the ability to actually buy food without having to travel all the way to a dining hall. As an off-campus student myself, I see little reason to ever get a meal plan, but if my options were suddenly expanded to a larger radius, including the street I drive by every day, I’d likely reconsider my position.
Currently, off-campus students have the option of the Commuter/Apartment Plan, which includes 750 Dining Dollars per semester and five percent off at the register at on-campus locations. However, with the only options being those in current dining locations, this plan can be a significant investment that ultimately may not pay off when the same funds could have easily been put towards buying groceries or eating out. If NC State Dining wants more people to sign up for meal plans, they need a significantly more attractive option for off-campus students than this.
A more indirect benefit would be shorter lines during peak hours. It may seem like a small effect, but lines on campus during lunch and dinner can be quite aggravating. With more locations to choose from, places like Jason’s Deli won’t crowd during peak hours as much, since people can now disperse over a larger area for food.
Tapingo and other third parties would become even more useful as well. Third-party systems like Tapingo benefit from students who use them for meal plans and Dining Dollars. If students were also able to order things with meal plans and Dining Dollars from local off-campus locations, that would almost certainly increase traffic for their products.
Another advantage afforded to NC State Dining as a result of an increased number of accessible locations would be the decreased need for any individual dining spot to cater to everyone’s desires. Currently, the university works hard to accommodate the niche needs of a diverse community with only a limited number of places to supply food from.
If one day all of Hillsborough Street became available to students, those niches could be addressed by supply and demand, rather than every dining location having to try to cater to every student, which would save money, effort and time.
This whole idea would clearly take some setup, negotiations and clarifications on payment. But ultimately it would be well worth it for both Hillsborough Street establishments and NC State Dining to take steps towards making it a reality. The simple action of giving these establishments a way to access funds from dining plans opens up a world of opportunity for the entire NC State community.
