Food Group
Appendix B: Rice Food Service Survey

In order to guage Rice students' thoughts on current food service and possible changes, we conducted a survey.  The following is an example of the survey and results:

Students in BAKE 302 have developed this survey to explore some options for the future of the Food Service at Rice.  It only takes a couple of minutes; please fill it out and return it to the headwaiter's table by the end of dinner.  Please feel free to elaborate on any question in the space provided.  Thank you for your help.

1. When you are returning your tray, would you be willing to separate your food into compostible and non-compostible categories?  This would likely involve 3 categories: paper trash, meats/animal products, and all other compostible materials.

• 78% of the students are willing to separate their food when returning their trays as long as it doesn't take more time than their current routine.

2. To keep food quality a priority, would you be willing to be subjected to the seasonal influences and availability on some produce?  Note: this would not apply to all produce since we can also buy a lot of frozen and canned produce.

• An overwhelming majority (97%) of students would rather choose from seasonal produce that is fresh rather than a wider variety that is not as fresh.

3. If the vegetarian entries were more varied and of higher quality, would you eat them more often?

• 68% of the respondents said they would eat more of the vegetarian entrees if they were more appetizing.   This number is reduced considerably by many of the respondents being, as they put it, "strict carnivores."

4. In order to keep cost and food waste down, would an "a la carte" meal plan appeal to you?  This would likely eliminate the pre-paid dinners so students would never lose money if they skipped dinner.

• An "a la carte" meal plan appeals to 83% of the students; many responded enthusiastically to this question, saying they often lost money with the pre-paid dinner plan.

5.  Do you normally use the paper/styrofoam cups or the smaller plastic cups at CK?

5b. If you use paper, would you be willing to use a sturdy, reusable plastic mug (with a comparable capacity) that you could keep in your room and bring to meals, thus allowing CK to discontinue use of the paper cups?

• The cup use of students is split pretty close to the middle; this may be a non-issue after the current CK plan to increase plastic cup size is implemented.  About 40% of students are willing to use the reusable plastic mugs, but many of the comments were very skeptical: "This would never work", "I'd always forget to bring it", etc.

Please answer questions 6-8 on a scale of 1-10, 1 being indifferent, and 10 being very interested.

6. How concerned are you about the content of toxic pesticide and fertilizer residues in CK food?
7. How interested are you in seeing CK serve more organic food?
8. How willing are you to pay the increased cost of organic food sources (approx. 30% mark-up from source)?

• The concern about toxic food and interest in acquiring organics is fairly substantial.  At first glance, the support for paying extra for organics seems to be mild, but the majority of respondents were "very unwilling" to pay extra for organics.  The mean (3.3) for the "willing to pay for organics" category is brought up by a few people with "10" responses; the median for this category is 2.  This would suggest waiting until the current trend in organic prices brings them down sufficiently so as to cause only a minimal price hike for students.

Problem 2: Waste Reduction

Back to Food Page

Back to Bake 302 Page