Students and faculty might want their money back — all 43 cents of it — after shopping at Algonquin’s Marketplace Café.
The Times conducted a food cost comparison survey that showed us that’s all you would save by shopping at Loblaws, and buying equivalent quantities from both it and the college.
“It sucks because I know it’s cheaper there. I would want to go there because I don’t want to pay as much, but I’m also in class right now so I don’t have time to go all the way to Loblaws to get food,” said Jaimie Porter a graphic design student at Algonquin.
However, Mary Baxter, the general manager for food services, maintains that Algonquin’s pricing is very fair compared to a grocery store [Loblaws], though acknowledging that “Loblaws and the food service locations are two different types of industries, (and) it’s a difficult comparison to make,” said Baxter.
Baxter would love to offer prices below industry standards but the industry doesn’t allow them to undercut their prices.
Menus are developed by taking into consideration what the student and consumers want and what has been popular in the past.
“We want to be sure that we are being inclusive in it and not just basing it on popularity as well as sales,” said Baxter.
Food Services tries its best to be inclusive to all as everyone has different dietary needs, whether it be because of religion, allergies or personal decisions. The Café offers different vegetarian and halal choices — the latter being a pork-free food for people of Muslim faith. Halal is served in the Portable Feast and the Marketplace Café while gluten-free options are served all over campus.
The kitchen operates in an organized line, starting at the beginning with the vegetable and sandwich area down past the pizza station. The end of the line is the butcher area that becomes meal prep by midday.
The college food service serves approximately 13,000-15,000 people a day throughout the campus.
“When we go out to make our comparisons, we go out to other food service locations. We look at the cost for us to prepare the food and we take into consideration the other colleges and universities,” said Baxter.