Carson’s weighs in on food prices

By Amanda Bittle and Scott D'Amico, Staff Writers

Hungry students have a variety of lunchtime options, both on campus and off.

Students with access to automobiles can go far and wide in their pursuit of a meal.

Those traveling by bicycle or foot can find several restaurants within a mile of OCCC, including Taco Bell, Braum’s, Burger King and Sonic.

Students also have the option of eating on campus. Some bring meals from home while others take advantage of Carson’s Market Fresh Café.

With such an array of options, it can be difficult to choose where to eat. The Pioneer staff was curious about just how students make those daily decisions.

Staff members took an informal poll during one busy lunchtime.

Many students said they eat at Carson’s because of the convenience of not having to leave campus. One student said she did not think there were many other options in the area.

Not all students choose eateries based on convenience. The Pioneer staff spoke with a group of students who had ventured off campus to Taste of China.

The group said they eat at Carson’s on some days and off-campus on others.

“It’s all about variety,” one diner said.

Carson’s offers breakfast, lunch and dinner options. During lunch, the hot entrée station is in operation, as is the grill, pizza and sandwich line, salad bar, and pasta and salad toss station.

Many students polled said they thought most of Carson’s prices were fair. A Carson’s hamburger, for instance, will set you back about as far as one from Burger King or Sonic.

A few offerings were considered over priced by students, however.

The salad bar goes for 32 cents per ounce, up 33 percent from last year’s 24 cents. This comes out to be $5.12 per pound of salad.

This rate is comparable to the pre-bagged salads sold at Albertson’s. However, Western Sizzlin restaurant offers its salad bar for $3.99 per pound.

Corrine Aguilar, Carson’s Catering and Food Concepts general manager, said their prices are comparable to area restaurants.

“We do price comparisons around this area,” she said. “That’s how we determine our prices.”
She said rising gas prices, natural disasters and even the cost of new plastic containers have all resulted in a price increase being passed to the consumer.

Although rising gas prices and natural disasters can’t be avoided, she said the switch from foam to plastic is something that’s not only good for Carson’s, but also the consumer.

“We changed to plastic from foam due to a lot of theft,” she said. “This way we can visually see what people are taking.”

Another complaint was that cottage cheese is now sold only as part of the salad bar.

At 32 cents per ounce, cottage cheese costs more than three times as much as at Braum’s, where 16 ounces sells for $1.49.

On Thursday, March 29, the café returned to offering small individual containers of cottage cheese.

Aguilar said Carson’s had previously cut out the individual portions because space was limited and, because once it is packaged, cottage cheese must be sold within a certain time frame.

Per student suggestion, Carson’s now offers a 4-ounce serving of cottage cheese for 89 cents.

“When you go with a bigger chain, you get more leeway with purchasing,” Aguilar said of the price of cottage cheese.

Carson’s alone doesn’t dictate price increases. Aguilar said price increases don’t go into effect until college officials approve those increases.

“We have to actually show [college officials] comparisons to justify the increase [of prices],” she said.

To determine price, Aguilar said, prices are analyzed from three local competitors as well as from schools around the area.

She said Carson’s usually requests price increases once during the fiscal year, and that the last price increase was the most recent.

According to numbers provided by Aguilar, 1,100 people eat at Carson’s each day, netting a monthly return from $40,000 to $50,000.

She said she believes Carson’s is chosen because of low prices and convenience.

One student said the quality doesn’t justify the price.

“I personally think everything there is over priced,” Liberal Arts sophomore Christy Hanna said. “It’s just not that great of quality for the money you spend.”

Staff Writer Amanda Bittle can be reached at SeniorWriter@occc.edu. Staff Writer Scott D’Amico can be reached at onlineeditor@occc.edu.