Beginning in January 2023, Campus Dining will restrict the number of meal swipes students can use per day to five. Munchie Mart offerings will also be changed in early February as Campus Dining experiments with new vendors.
Prior to the meal swipe change, students were allowed to use up to three meal swipes per hour with no daily limit. A university representative said the new five-swipe limit is intended to help students pace their swipe usage throughout the week.
“The new daily parameter allows for flexibility in meal swipes while also reducing the possibility of student food insecurity due to lack of swipes at the end of the week,” the representative said.
Under the new daily limit, sophomore Alex Mormorruni said it becomes more difficult for students to “stock up” on snacks by spending many meal swipes at one time at Munchie Marts.
“There will probably be some days where I will max out because I am stocking up,” sophomore Alex Mormorunni said.
A university representative also confirmed that, during the second half of the Fall 2022 semester, there was a decrease in pre-made meal inventory in Munchie Marts across campus. Sophomore Adam Wall said he relies on Munchie Marts for meals when he is unable to visit dining halls during operating hours due to busy schedules. For the 2022-23 academic year, all Vanderbilt dining halls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. CST on weekdays.
“It’s difficult at times to utilize the dining halls given my schedule. Often, I have things scheduled during normal mealtime, or the dining halls are too packed to find a place to sit,” Wall said. “The Munchie Marts are convenient because they allow me to stock up and eat when I have the time to.”
According to the university representative, this pre-made meal shortage occurred in part to the sudden passing of Chef Manager Louis Sloan, the former manager of Campus Dining’s in-house meal preparation unit. Under Sloan’s leadership, Campus Dining was able to “dramatically increase” the availability of pre-made meals in Munchie Mart locations. The representative said Campus Dining had to adjust the production and inventory of grab and go meal offerings on campus as they continue to return to normal operations following his passing.
The representative added Campus Dining is experimenting with different vendors that provide a wider range of pre-made meal options. Students can expect to see these new additions, in addition to re-stocking on pre-made meals, to Munchie Mart offerings in early February.
The Rothschild Munchie Mart has also modified its operating hours for the Spring 2023 semester. The shop, which was formerly open from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. CST, will now be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. CST. A university representative said this change was based on direct student feedback that revealed a need for more lunchtime options during the semester. Sophomore and Rothschild resident Suhaah Nadir said she mainly utilized the Rothschild Munchie Mart after 8 p.m. CST, when other dining options were closed.
“During lunch time, everyone’s on main campus and Suzie’s and Kissam and Rand munchie are open anyway for more lunch options,” Nadir said.
Nadir also explained that VSG Dining Committee member Caleb Boyer conducted a poll in a closed GroupMe of Rothschild residents, with 92.5% of respondents stating that they had primarily utilized the Rothschild Munchie Mart at 7 p.m. CST or later.
Campus Dining added that Residential College C’s facilities will not include a Munchie Mart.
