Meal plans are synonymous with higher-ed dining; they are the fundamental building blocks of most dining programs and are extremely impactful to the student experience. While we all understand the purpose of a meal plan, many don’t understand the purpose of meal plan structures. Is a block plan better than a meals-per-week (MPW) plan? When should a retail plan be used? And how does an “everybody eats” plan even work? Let us break it down for you!
Block Plan: Block plans are one of the most common structures in the higher-ed dining world and also one of the simplest to institute. In this structure, students are provided with a set number of meal swipes at the start of the semester which are deducted each time a student goes to the dining hall or uses a meal exchange. This structure has traditionally been used for smaller plans (i.e., 10-block faculty/staff plan) but has increasingly become a mainstay for semester long plan as well. Block plans afford a significant amount of flexibility in when the user chooses to eat; block meals transfer week to week, so there isn’t the sense of “use it or lose it” associated with more traditional MPW plans. This flexibility is particularly helpful when trying to appeal to non-resident students; their hours on campus are much more limited and don’t typically revolve around main meal periods. The flip side is that the user must pay greater attention to their eating habits. If a student finds themselves eating at the dining hall more than they had initially budgeted for, they may run out of meal swipes towards the end of the semester and have to rely on either dining dollars or cash/credit to continue eating. This concern also calls into question block plans’ effectiveness at combating food insecurity.
MPW Plan: Meals-per-week, or MPW plans set a fixed amount of meals a user can swipe for at the dining hall each week. Any unused swipes at the end of each week are forfeited and the plan essentially resets again at the beginning of the next week. These plans are much more tailored to a residential-heavy institution as students who live on campus will frequent a dining hall on a much more regular cadence than off-campus students who eat out and cook at home more. These plans are ideal for combatting food insecurity as each user is guaranteed a set number of meals each week; there is no danger of someone using up all of their swipes three weeks before the semester’s end. However, many students will find themselves splurging at week’s end to use up remaining meal swipes before they are forfeited. A common complaint among students is they end up paying for meals they are not eating.
All Access Plan: All access plans afford meal plan holders unlimited swipes. This plan is a very common option in residential-heavy institutions as it is built for a student who lives on campus and plans to visit the dining hall on a very frequent basis. All Access plans tend to be pricier than your more traditional Block and MPW; this can exacerbate price sensitivities if the dining program’s perceived value declines or if an All Access plan is mandated. On the plus side, All Access plans are one of the most effective structures available to curtail food insecurity for plan holders.
Retail-Only Plan: A retail-only plan eschews the idea of meal swipes altogether and embraces an a la carte style of eating. Retail only plans are typically seen in institutions with limited in-house dining capacity, particularly porous environments with alternative food options such as urban settings, or where there are large number of non-residential students. Retail-only plans afford students the ability to only order and pay for what they want rather than feeling obligated to use all of their meal swipes in order to get their money’s worth. This a la carte model is a bit of two-edged sword though, as one of the most common criticisms we hear from students on retail-only plans is that the food is too expensive. As a rule of thumb, retail-only plans aren’t inherently more expensive than a traditional residential plan. The real cause of this complaint is hyper-awareness of pricing. Students can see and quantify the amount of money being deducted from their account every day when they check out at the register; they don’t see this monetary value in the same light when using a meal swipe. With the inflationary pressures of the past several years, this complaint has only become more prevalent. Deducting one meal swipe for an entrée, a bag of chips, and a drink is much more palatable than paying $16.50 for the same items.
Everybody Eats Plan: This is one of the newest types of meal plans in use and arguably the most impactful. An “everybody eats” program is one where essentially all students, whether residential or commuter, are required to enroll in an All Access meal plan. The financial premise of this plan structure is to spread the dining program’s cost over the entire student body equally rather than concentrate it in a smaller number of meal plan holders. This type of plan is still being tested and perfected by operators, but initial results suggest there is a minimal or even deflationary impact to meal plan pricing and that dining halls are seeing more traffic from students who previously never ate on campus. The obvious complication with this plan is getting buy-in from the entire community. The immediate perception of some may be that they are subsidizing another student’s food when they themselves don’t plan to eat at the dining hall. This can be difficult to overcome but shouldn’t dissuade institutions from discussing this plan further. If buy-in can be achieved, everybody eats plans has the potential to effectively curb food insecurity, reduce student reliance on food pantries, increase dining revenues, and encourage community.
So, what is the best plan to offer your students? The short answer is that we can’t make a blanket assertion. Each type of plan structure has its own particular qualities that could either enhance or detract from the student experience and institutional priorities. The best solution is to offer several different types of plans to meet the varied needs of your students. Over time as your institution gathers more meal plan data, these plans can be honed to more accurately meet the specific needs of your campus.