« Second sad thought for the day | Main | The Mercatus Masters Fellowship »
Should we abolish trays?
Behavioral economics in action, or call it voluntary paternalism:
Students ran a test last semester showing that on two days when trays weren’t offered, food and beverage waste dropped between 30 and 50 percent, according to Kathy Woughter, vice president for student affairs at Alfred. That amounts to about 1,000 pounds of solid waste and 112 gallons of liquid waste saved on a weekly basis, according to the college.
And why?:
Think back to your undergraduate days eating in the dorm dining hall. When you moved through the buffet line, did you ever get a little too ambitious with portions just because you had extra room on that plastic tray?
If I ran a cafeteria I would consider abolishing utensils, thereby encouraging South Indian and Ethiopian food, but I don't expect that would be popular with all patrons.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on January 30, 2008 at 01:47 PM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
In addition to the waste, the free food in a dorm style hall contribute to many a "freshman 15" or, in my case, 30...
Posted by: pawnking at Jan 30, 2008 1:52:21 PM
I want Tyler Cowen to run my cafeteria.
Posted by: anon at Jan 30, 2008 1:57:36 PM
Ah, and we now know why Tyler did not go into (or perhaps was run out of) the cafeteria business. I wonder if people would be allowed to bring their own utensils into the Cowen Cafeteria?
My first thought on the post was just that its a pain in the ass to carry very much food back to your seat without a tray. Given that lines are sometimes long, students might not want to bother getting back up to get another helping. I don't think there is anything esoteric about it: Raise the cost of bringing larger amounts of food back to one's seat, and people will bring less food back to their seat.
Posted by: Grant at Jan 30, 2008 2:13:56 PM
Or how about just abolishing buffets? The food at my college was far from great, but I suspect that the option to buy from a series of stations with food prepared on the spot improved it to some extent.
I, too, would want to eat at Tyler's cafeteria.
Posted by: Jacob Grier at Jan 30, 2008 2:15:53 PM
Tyler
I don't understand why South Indian food won't need utensils (Rasam, Sambar, Coconut chutney??) and there are South Indian buffets too ( Lunch at Udipi in Sunnyvale CA)
- Pankaj
Posted by: Pankaj Narula at Jan 30, 2008 2:22:26 PM
I think the original intent of these type venues was to ensure that harried students got adequate nutrition. A little waste is the price paid.
Now, maybe you could charge a la carte and subsidize the broccoli and salad bar, but it may be cheaper to run a food assembly line than add to cashiers.
Posted by: Andrew at Jan 30, 2008 2:36:44 PM
And, the food isn't exactly free.
The first slice of pizza is $6, the subsequent eleven slices are free.
Posted by: andrew at Jan 30, 2008 2:38:33 PM
Start with smaller trays first. Enough only for one plate, utensils, and a beverage.
Posted by: Macneil at Jan 30, 2008 2:40:29 PM
"If I ran a cafeteria I would consider abolishing utensils, thereby encouraging South Indian and Ethiopian food,"
Or hot dogs and burritos (sandwiches, hamburgers)...
But as to trays, it makes sense to me. With the room people tend to add desert, side dishes, etc just because the empty space i kind of calling out to be filled.
Posted by: liberty at Jan 30, 2008 3:25:39 PM
You'd hope for Ethopian, but if that were your only change you'd probably end up with pizza and sandwiches every day.
I agree, it's be interesting to try smaller trays. (I'd be interested in the rate of spilled drinks on the days without trays...)
Posted by: Kat at Jan 30, 2008 3:27:16 PM
The buffets in Las Vegas don't have trays. I think the casinos probably know more about waste (because of its effect on profitability) than most universities...
Posted by: Jacqueline at Jan 30, 2008 4:05:11 PM
"If I ran a cafeteria I would consider abolishing utensils, thereby encouraging South Indian and Ethiopian food"
After living in a dorm, my first thought in response to this is "nightmarish outbreaks of all manner of terrible diseases". The dining hall is always the main culprit, and we had enough trouble when everyone used utensils.
Posted by: Kaltech at Jan 30, 2008 4:28:09 PM
Eh. My favorite local buffet doesn't offer trays and I still manage to stuff myself silly whenever I go.
However, I suspect that they will find that students (a typically lazy lot) will try to cram everything onto one plate. This will a) increase spills, and b) cause the consumption of vegetables and salad to drop.
Posted by: Dolohov at Jan 30, 2008 4:29:40 PM
The amount of waste in my kids elementary school is unbelievable. They are small kids though, and perhaps for them it would be unwise to take away trays, but the concept holds there too, I believe.
Posted by: bronxilla at Jan 30, 2008 4:40:22 PM
A little off-topic, but I've always wondered why fast food restaurants don't just serve every meal in a bag, rather than trays for dine-in and bags for carry out. It would seem to save time, rather than asking "For here or to go" every time.
By the way, bronxilla, if your kids' cafeteria is like mine, the size of the tray is irrelevant. They are served a meal of pre-determined size. They just don't eat it all.
Posted by: Ted Craig at Jan 30, 2008 4:47:59 PM
What's wrong with a plate? Put your food on the plate, hold your drink with your free hand, and sit down and eat your food. Then again, I don't stuff myself silly ever, so I don't have this problem.
Also, who puts a drink on a tray? That's asking for a spill.
Posted by: Jarick at Jan 30, 2008 4:52:58 PM
I know of quite a few colleges and universities where at least in the past
cafeteria trays were used as sleds on snow-covered hills during wintertimes.
This positive externality should be kept in mind in the calculation.
Of course, with global warming the value of this externality may be decreasing,
and maybe those darned spoiled students should just go and buy their own sleds!
Oh, and I just remembered, of course, global warming is just a myth of the
liberal fascists (or is that "fascist liberals"?)....
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Jan 30, 2008 5:01:06 PM
On an unrelated note, I wish we could get chopsticks everywhere. I use them for everything bite-sized, including things like fruit, french fries, and chips. I sometimes carry a pair with me in a box, but I get too many funny looks to use them all the time.
Posted by: zlguocius at Jan 30, 2008 5:02:37 PM
Jarick, the alternatives to putting the drink on the tray are to balance the tray with one hand and the drink in the other (increasing the likelihood you'll drop both), or making two trips (which eliminates the need for a tray in the first place).
Posted by: meter at Jan 30, 2008 5:03:14 PM
On a related note, I find that I use a lot fewer napkins when they're provided at the table. When you have to take them away with your purchase, I take a HUGE handful just to make sure I don't run out. But when they're at the table, I use only what I need.
I bet I'm not the only one with napkin paranoia.
Tim Hortons is the only fast food place I've seen with napkin dispensers at each table.
Posted by: Phil at Jan 30, 2008 5:14:59 PM
The monopolistic nature of many university food providers does not need to be supplemented with limitations to students' abilities to get more food.
I think lowering initial prices and increasing marginal prices is a much better and fairer mechanism.
Posted by: Jake at Jan 30, 2008 5:19:03 PM
How is this "behavioral economics in action"? Seems like standard economic agent actions at the margin to me....
Posted by: Matt at Jan 30, 2008 5:36:49 PM
When I worked at Wendy's during the 70's, I was instructed to only refill the condiment stand 50% full as it resulted is less waste in packaging as well as supplies. I always found that interesting, but true. Apparently Dave Thomas was in touch with his inner economist.
Posted by: Al at Jan 30, 2008 7:51:56 PM
It's all about the incentives. Smaller portion size makes people work harder for each portion, giving breaks between eating and costing for more time to eat a given amount of food.
Posted by: John Smith at Jan 30, 2008 9:12:47 PM
I wasted food in my college's dining hall all the time. Because it was difficult to tell if something was going to be bad, very bad, or disgusting, I had to get several items just to hedge my choices.
The food was magically much better at the meals where food was purchased using points stored on our student ID cards.
Posted by: Sean at Jan 30, 2008 9:33:18 PM
