Concessions prices too high for hungry fans

During basketball halftimes, herds of people, still full of adrenaline from the game, come to one place ““ the concessions stands. The lines are quickly filled as people await the traditional staples of nachos, hot dogs, fries and soda.

Bree Hernandez, a second-year undeclared student, attends many UCLA basketball games, but because of the high prices of the concession stands, she thinks twice before buying food.

“It’s typical concession-stand food. In (terms of) taste, the food is similar to food sold in other venues,” she said. “I don’t think the food is worth the price, yet that’s true for food at all concession stands at sporting events.”

But Cindy Bolton, food service director for Associated Students UCLA, said the ASUCLA food service division tries to keep prices low.

“It’s about providing a service to campus,” she said of ASUCLA, which provides food for large events such as the Festival of Books, the Countrywide Classic men’s tennis tournament and most UCLA-hosted athletic events.

While Hernandez thinks the prices at the concession stands at Pauley Pavilion are too high, she said the prices are still comparably lower than those at other sporting venues, such as the Rose Bowl.

Bolton said ASUCLA makes an effort to provide lower prices for concessions food than those at other venues.

At larger events, the food services department sometimes hires additional third-party vendors, with the expectation that those vendors provide the lowest tier of prices, Bolton said.

But even with the efforts to maintain low prices, some students are still deterred from buying food at concessions stands on campus because the prices remain higher than those at campus restaurants.

“Prices in the Ackerman food court aren’t bad,” Jillian Levi, a second-year undeclared student said. “But at concession stands everything is several dollars more than what I would pay at Ackerman. That’s a large percentage increase that I’m not willing to pay.”

At the Festival of Books, Levi brought food she purchased with a meal swipe from Bruin Cafe so she would not need to buy food at the festival. Students who live on the Hill and have meal swipes affect the business of food services provided by ASUCLA on campus.

“Especially since I have swipes, its not worth it for me to buy food at concession stands,” she said.

Bolton said that food sold at concession stands is slightly more expensive than at on-campus restaurants because ASUCLA needs to pay an additional commission fee to the venues for everything they sell.

“We make a small margin (of profit from concessions stands). Sometimes we operate at a loss, but that’s okay ““ it’s part of the service we are providing to the campus,” Bolton said.

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the concessions department made up 4 percent of ASUCLA food service revenues, Bolton said.

“It’s not huge,” Bolton said. “But it does its part.”

While the concessions department has a student staff, for larger events, ASUCLA employs student staff from other campus restaurants and several career employees.

“We sometimes hire people from temporary agencies, but we try to avoid it,” she said.

Levi said she believes that ASUCLA’s hiring of student employees is a good practice.

“I think it’s important that ASUCLA provide jobs for students on campus,” she said. “Still, it does not make me more inclined to buy food from the concessions.”

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