Dining tweaks offerings, seeks older market

Wasted meals and high-priced swipes will be a distant memory next semester for upperclassmen with meal plans, dining officials say.

Dining Services announced yesterday that dining hall meals will cost an average of $9 next semester for upperclassmen. Meals for freshmen will still cost $11 each.

The new plan promotions -- which went on sale yesterday and will be available through May 31 -- also let users turn in unused meals from the current academic year for a discount on next fall's plan. Students can trade in 25 meals for a 5 percent discount or 50 for a 10 percent discount.

The promotions also offer students group discounts when signing up with friends. Students who sign up in groups of four get a 5 percent discount each; groups of eight get a 10 percent discount.

The revamped options are designed to get older students to stay on University-sponsored meal plans, Business Services officials say.

According to John Cipollini, a Penn Dining Services representative, about 2,000 out of 7,500 upperclassmen are now on a meal plan.

"Fewer [upperclassmen] than we'd like use the meal plan," Director of Business Services Laurie Cousart said.

But while older students said they were pleased with the price decrease, some say it is not enough incentive to buy a meal plan when they are living off-campus and can cook for themselves.

College sophomore Chrissie Vroome, who currently has a meal plan because "my mom made me," said she would not get one despite the new program.

"If more of my friends were on the meal plan and it was more of a social thing, I would stay on it," she said.

To help gauge student interest in meal-plan changes, Business Services conducted a survey this spring that generated over 1,000 student responses. Officials also held focus groups with students about the meal plan.

In survey responses, many students complained about the high price of meal plans, Cousart said.

The relationship between the quality of the meal and the price of the plans is "the single most significant piece of feedback we got," Cipollini said.

Another feature of the new promotion is the addition of "Moocher" meals -- credits that can be used to swipe friends or family into dining halls for a meal.

According to Jennifer Martin -- marketing manager for Aramark, which manages Penn's dining facilities -- there will no longer be guest passes, and if students do not use the Moocher meals for guests they can use them for themselves.

Ten Moocher meals will come with each meal plan.

"You can come in and have a party in any of the dining halls, and you can bring your friends," Martin said.

The plan also includes a new take-out option for all dining halls. Students who sit down for a meal will be permitted to leave with whatever food they choose.

According to Cipollini, containers will be provided at the entrance of each dining hall so that students could "pick out the items that [they] would like for the day and bring that with [them] when [they] leave."

Plan prices - Meals will cost $9 for upperclassmen - Underclassmen will still pay $11 per meal

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