REF: 66-2410-1747901 - Food Prices

Your comment: Good afternoon,

As the new semester has now started, I have once again begun to eat in the food hall on campus. Like many students, the price of food is always something I take into consideration, especially during the currently cost of living crisis. I have noticed that the price of your value meals has increased to £3.75 as opposed to the £2.50 as it was during the 2022/2023 academic year. I understand that inflation, cost of ingredients, staff wages, etc have to be taken into account but I just wanted to express my concern with the rises in prices we have seen recently. If at all possible, please could you review the price of your value meals? I am not asking for the price to change if it is not possible, I simply wish to ask for it to be reviewed because I know many students will find even £3.75 a stretch.

I also want to thank you for your efforts to cater to those with allergens. I notice that the value meal always has very few allergens in which means students like me with an allergy can benefit from this cheaper meal option, ensuring that allergies do not put a barrier on being able to afford food.

Many thanks once again for your willingness to cater to those with allergies and for continuing to provide some great food options in the food hall (especially the ramen!). I hope you will take my comments regarding pricing and payments into consideration.

Our response:

Good Morning,

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to give us your feedback. It really is a great help to us in getting to know what messages and perceptions are getting through to students. If I may take your comments in turn.

The Value meal was introduced in the 2022 term due to the cost of living crisis. At its introduction it was heavily subsidised and was being sold at less than cost price. The meal has therefore been increased each year to get closer to the true cost of the dish, which this year is £3.75. Whilst we accept that this is 75p more than last year for students, we are able to hold this price and will only need to increase this in line with inflation going forward. We do understand the pressures that students are under financially , which I why we have continued our value meal to include Ramen every lunchtime. I can assure you that we do always seek to offer the best value for our students in our pricing, even in these financially challenging times.

We do thank you for your kind comments about our allergen labelling and ensuring dishes that have few allergens in them. Our kitchen team have worked very hard on this, so I will pass your thanks across to them. It is an area where we are aware that it is very important to build the trust in our customers with allergens and food intolerances. So we are more than happy to explain all our food production process’ to reassure anyone how we control allergens in our food.