My S is a healthy weight by eating one large meal a day but if the portions are limited he won’t do well on that. Fortunately his school hasn’t started yet (quarter system) so perhaps it’s a combination of supply chain and the large number of schools starting around the same time. Hopefully too his school is taking notice of what’s going on. Chartwells is the vendor (new this year).
My D is underweight. She doesn’t need any excuses not to eat.
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I don’t think there’s any nationwide or regional food shortage, is there? I suspect any shortage on campus is due to budgetary or logistic issues. Food prices have certainly gone up significantly, which may cause problem at a college with a constrained budget. Some food items may also have to be substituted and the substituted items may not be to everyone’s liking.
It is possible that some items may have unreliable availability. So if a college dining hall publishes a planned menu ahead of time and sticks with it, then if a given day’s ingredients are in short supply, that can result in problems with that day’s meals. An alternative would be to change the menu to what is available, but that may not go over well with those who expected what was listed on the menu beforehand.
The thing is that if Sysco (or whatever company is the college’s distributor) can’t fulfill the order, they don’t sub in other things…meaning there may be nothing else available. Clearly this is a countrywide issue, as many colleges, K-12 schools, restaurants, and grocery stores are having trouble getting supply of common items.
Is a contract with an outside food vendor so specific that no substitution is possible?
I don’t know these type of details…all I know is some of the aforementioned institutions are having issues receiving the food they order, and enough food of any type to run their businesses in the typical ways. ETA: Sysco’s difficulties have been widely reported in the media.
I agree. I think the problem is probably specific to school cafeteria companies, who likely don’t have the money or industry clout to compete for supplies with the large restaurant companies. The cafeteria companies also don’t have as much motivation to deliver in difficult circumstances, because their contract is set and they will get their money regardless of how students and faculty/staff feel about the food or service.
I personally haven’t seen any significant supply or service problems at supermarkets or restaurants, just sky-high prices across the board. That’s my perspective as a consumer. I know that behind the scenes many companies, particularly small restaurant companies, are absolutely scrambling to maintain food and service quality, and the owners and staff are exhausted.
I spent over a month this summer in a tourist area (Massachusetts Cape/Islands) and dined out A LOT, and had only one problem with food quality (waitress took the item off the bill) and two marginal service experiences (neither was a big deal, we still tipped well). Otherwise, our dining experiences were absolutely outstanding in every way (again, prices were eye-popping, but I expected that).
If a college cafeteria has ‘Spaghetti and meatballs’ on the menu, and the spaghetti doesn’t arrive, they can make changes to a point, but if those don’t work (meatball subs, spaghetti with sauce only) then they just scrap it and only serve the other 3 items on the menu that night. If two entrees can’t be made, then there is just less food for that meal.
If that happened at home, or a grocery store didn’t get the shipment, you’d just plan something else for dinner, no big deal. School cafeterias can’t substitute that quickly. I’m sure their orders don’t say “Hey, if you can’t bring the meatballs, just forget the spaghetti and bring us stuff for tacos, enough to feed 2000.” No.
More important is that all those college kids in California are not going to get bacon starting in January. It will be too expensive.
Too expensive like housing and everything else? 
Anyway, there’s always turkey bacon or just not eating it at all because it’s bad for you.
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Not getting enough food is one thing. Not getting your first choice is another. Some of the complaints I see on my Ds parents FB page are ridiculous. Time to adult and be a less picky eater!
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It’s official:
Mad rush describes it pretty well — staffing shortages, supply chain shortages, a rush of students coming in who are new to campus," one dining services employee from the University of Georgia (UGA) told Yahoo Finance. “Everybody’s overworked.”
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If it is a labor shortage, could they hire more students? Aren’t dining halls a common student part time job?
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Possibly? I don’t know how many and what types of jobs students are permitted to do within the dining service and if the school contracts with a third party vendor like Sodexo that might affect things as well?
Food shortages/supply chain issues will be more difficult to rectify unfortunately.
On the parents’ Facebook of my student university, parents mostly complained about over an hour waiting in the dining hall and the poor quality of the meal. Not sure if they are related to the food shortage or food service works.
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My son is a picky eater and luckily says that the food at Whitman is amazing. The hours are short though (5-7pm dinner) which is difficult for some students, including my son who has practice. Apparently they were open until 9pm in the past. I have not heard of a food shortage though. And luckily he can easily walk to a grocery store if needed.
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My D’s school also has short (in my opinion) dinner hours. I wonder if it’s related to the food and labor shortages?
What is considered typical meal hours in college dining halls these days?
Comparing the same college now versus a few decades ago suggests that dining hall meal hours have increased from 1.5-2 hours per meal back then to 2.5-4 hours per meal now at that college. However, it is the case that there are now fewer larger dining halls, each of which serves a larger number of students.
My D’s school is 2 hours. It’s not so much the length of time but start and end times.
Personally I think dining times should be 3 hours minimum. If they expanded the hours it might also help alleviate the hour long wait times. But the labor shortages are clearly contributing if the schools can’t even staff all the dining halls adequately.
One option might be to convert some of the meal swipes to dollars that can be spent outside traditional dining halls either on or off campus. Could end up cheaper for the schools because they won’t have to hire as many workers.
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But if there is a shortage of labor in the college dining hall (basically a restaurant designed for high volume service), sending the students to local restaurants could strain the local restaurant labor situation even more.