1. Make it a meal
At Nashville’s Vanderbilt, meal plans include a fixed number of meal swipes, as well as flexibility around when to use them—retail store purchases and late-night dining can count as a meal.
The secret: Accept that there will be fewer prepaid but never-used meal swipes—but expect more meal plan buys from more satisfied diners, too. High percentages of Vanderbilt students, including 70% of seniors, buy some sort of meal plan. “I’ve had conversations with directors around the country who like that missed-meal money—it’s their safety net,” Director of Operations Spiros Vergatos says. “I don’t like that missed-meal money. Manage your labor costs and meal costs and be efficient. We sell more meal plans, and we don’t get many complaints.”