JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Hungry ETSU students have to pay a bit extra for on-campus dining this semester.
Micah Boudreaux, marketing manager for the ETSU Dining and Catering Group, said some changes in the price of menu items are because of natural and environmental events.
“Commodity costs are being affected by drought, floods, hurricanes and unusual temperatures around the world,” Boudreaux said. “There is also greater demand for biofuels made from agricultural products. All companies now have to pay higher prices for things like food, gas and supplies. To cover these costs, we have had to make a few adjustments so that we can continue to deliver the quality food and service you expect.”
ETSU’s food service is managed by Aramark Campus Dining Services.
Boudreaux said ETSU’s Dining and Catering Group has routine market analyses to help determine the pricing of menu items.
“Although we have not raised our prices since the beginning of this semester, we do conduct a market-price analysis twice a year to ensure that we are price competitive,” Boudreaux said. “Our national brand partners set the pricing for franchise locations to ensure they are competitive with off campus locations.”
Boudreaux said the pricing at local competitive locations plays a role in determining pricing strategies for ETSU’s Aramark dining options.
“Our pricing strategy includes comprehensive competitive shopping,” Boudreaux said. “We obtain pricing from local establishments with similar products, other area colleges and universities and local convenience stores before marketing any of our items. The prices of the products we serve are comparable with other university venues … we are not competitive with large grocery or discount stores that have their own distribution locations and can buy in large quantities for volume discounts.”
Market-price analyses are also conducted for Aramark’s ETSU convenience stores.
“Each of our convenience stores carries an updated market-price