Elon University student surveys reported the past meal plan system was the best in the region, noted for its variety in food options and dining locations. Elon's former meal plan system was in the top 4 percent in the country, according to ARAMARK representatives, but now, with a new meal plan system enacted on campus, the reaction from students and the consequences for dining locations have not been as positive.

Unlike the previous plan, which provided students with the option of five, 10, 15 or 19 meal combinations per week, the new basic plan for freshmen and sophomores is "all-access," which provides them with unlimited visits to the three dining halls on campus. At an additional cost, they can purchase seven or 14 combination swipes per week to be used at Elon's retail locations.

While ARAMARK representatives insist the change reflects Elon's mission, retail locations on campus have experienced a sharp decline in weekly customers, while dining halls have become overcrowded.

Campus Reality

Max Akhlaghi, manager of Acorn Coffee Shop, has seen firsthand the effects of the new meal plan system.

"When this semester started, I was looking at the numbers and I was concerned about it," Akhlaghi said. "But as time passes, the number of students seems to be getting higher, and I'm not too far from where I was last year."

Despite Akhlaghi's claims, ARAMARK statistics show that the number of sales at Acorn has decreased so far this semester compared to September 2010. Last year, the number of students who ate at Acorn in a given week was between 3,500 and 4,000. For the first week of September, the number decreased by 436 visits, a trend that has steadily continued. There were decreases of 623 and 872 visits in the second and third weeks, respectively.

These statistics include the number of students using meal dollars, Phoenix Cash and other forms of payment, as well as meal swipes. Some students do not have combo meal swipes or run out and may have to use these forms of payment to purchase a meal.

Akhlaghi said he regularly pays for students who don't have meal dollars, food dollars or meal plans.

"I don't think that students will give up on Acorn because they ran out of meal dollars," he said. "But if they do come here and they don't have the mean of pay for (a meal), I use my card and pay for them. It's something that I don't want to talk about, but I do it on a daily basis."

Other retail locations, including 1889 Grill Room, Octagon Cafe and Varsity Sports Grille, have all had a decrease in the number of student customers. 1889 has had as much as a 52 percent decrease in students since this time in 2010, Octagon a 34 percent decrease and Varsity a 22 percent decrease.

Statistics show more students are frequenting the dining halls. But not without a disruption. Colonnades Dining Hall has seen as 67 percent increase since the school year began, Harden Dining Hall a 79.8 percent increase and McEwen Dining Hall a 94.5 percent increase since the same week last year.

ARAMARK's Reasoning

According to Jeff Gazda, resident district manager at ARAMARK, while surveys consistently ranked Elon's meal plan system as one of the best, there was one area that required improvement — price–value perception.

The price–value perception, as Gazda put it, refers to the perceived amount of value students get for the price they are paying for their meal plan. It was these regional and national survey results, combined with results from online chat rooms and live focus groups, which led ARAMARK representatives to conclude that students wanted unlimited access to dining halls, in turn causing retail locations to lose student meal swipes.

The three dining halls, Harden, McEwen and Colonnades, are close to numerous living locations on campus and prompted ARAMARK to align with Elon's move to create more on-campus housing, according to Gazda.

"If we are going to build a residential campus, we are going to build facilities that have a more retail feel, more complex culinary palette," Gazda said.

One of the main reasons the meal plan changed, he said, was that not enough people were going to the dining halls and that the retail locations were overcrowded. And, according to Gazda, it takes more money to keep a dining hall running, which is why more swipes were needed at locations such as McEwen, Colonnades and Harden.

Gazda said ARAMARK was "trying to meet the needs of the university" with the structure of the new meal plan.

"What these retail locations are losing is some residential meal swipes," Gazda said. "What we had last year were two residential dining facilities in Harden and McEwen that were losing swipes which was a much bigger waste of resources."

Students React

It is the students on campus that are directly affected by the change in the meal plan system. Alexandra Sherry, freshman anthropology and international studies double major, said she both likes and dislikes the new system.

"I like having All-Access because I can just go in and swipe in the dining halls at any time," she said. "But with the basic you don't get very much money at any other locations to eat. I (live) in North Area so I like how Harden is really conveniently located, but I don't like how there's not many options over the weekend for places to eat with the Basic All-Access."

She said if she could have the All-Access Plus seven or Plus 14, she would eat more at the retail locations.

"If I would change anything, it would be to have more options on the all-access basic rather than just the three dining halls," she said.

Freshman Megan McCaffrey, a psychology and music performance double major, said her rehearsal schedule creates limited time for her to eat at a dining hall.

"I really enjoy how the All-Access meal plan allows me to eat as much as I want," she said. "If I were to change anything about the meal plans this year, I would bring back cheaper options for students like me who don't have time to eat on a regular basis at a dining facility."

Although this is true for many students, some have resisted the meal plan changes.

Sophomore Veronica Lee, a sophomore theatrical design and production double major, experienced the meal plan system from last year and said she prefers it.

"I think that the dining halls are extremely overcrowded, especially during peak hours," Lee said. "I think that one reason for this is because of the setup of the dining halls which doesn't allow for quick service or enough seating accommodations. I think that the all-access plan doesn't help this problem because now more people are required to eat there, making them busier and more congested."

According to an informal poll taken by The Pendulum on Facebook, 45 of the 49 students who responded said Elon should have kept the old meal plan, there aren't enough opportunities to go to their favorite places or they wish that the All-Access meal plans rolled over from week to week.

Lee also said she prefers the old meal plan system because some students cannot afford the All-Access meal plans and they don't allow students to eat at whatever food establishments they want at the time.

"I would bring back what we had last year because, from what I can remember, no one complained about (the meal plans) because they didn't restrict people to certain places," she said, "and the price was reasonable given that there weren't limitations on where we could eat."