A hefty price increase at the University of Groningen (RUG) prompted the Groningen university newspaper Ukrant to compare prices of ‘common’ products at various university restaurants. Observant was asked to make an inventory of prices for items such as soup, milk, sandwiches and fruit at UM. Compared to other institutes, the customers here do well: as a rule, they paid the lowest prices. This came as a pleasant surprise for UM caterer Eurest, says branch manager René Kersten: “We are always regarded as expensive.”
However, they are not making a profit at the moment: “Because of inflation, the cost of ingredients has gone up, but we don’t pass all of that on to our customers; students are very critical about that, as surveys have been showing for years. Our advantage is that we are an international concern and we supply a variety of large institutes, such as prisons and businesses, which means that we can buy in bulk. We just don’t get left with much.” In addition, Eurest is trying to reduce costs by decreasing the number of suppliers as well as what is on offer; providing one type of salad instead of three different ones, for example. Kersten: “This is not only a financial advantage, but it is also more sustainable because we produce less waste.”
How does Kersten explain the fact that soup at VU costs €1.30, in Utrecht it is €1.50 and at UM €0.85, while it is provided by the same caterer? “This depends on the type of contract that you have with your contract partner. At UM, we have to contribute a certain percentage of our turnover to the university. Maybe this is arranged in a different way at VU.” A second possible explanation is the time in which the annual price increase is recalculated, the so-called indexation. “UM only introduces these in January, but maybe this was done at the beginning of the academic year at other universities. Comparing prices at this moment would then give a distorted image, Kersten suggests.