Many students have noticed and grumbled about the prices for food and beverage items in MacLeod’s, the campus convenience store, which are generally much higher than the prices for those same items elsewhere. Similarly, many have criticized the re-introduction of Starbucks Coffee to the campus. Some students view Starbucks as unnecessarily expensive.
According to Chuck Wagers, the director of campus dining services, there are two primary reasons why items at MacLeod’s cost more than elsewhere. First, he explained, stores like Wal-Mart and Drug Mart “are national companies with much larger purchasing power than The College of Wooster. In terms of volume, we buy cases of products, those companies buy truckloads.”
Most manufacturers offer lower prices on larger bulk purchases. The shipping charges on one truckload compared to multiple smaller orders would also be higher.
The second reason Wagers gave is that “the College staff wage and benefit costs are much higher than a typical small retail outlet.”
Students who were here when MacLeod’s did not exist and convenience items were sold in Mom’s Truck Stop, or even further back when these items were sold at Java Hut (now Pop’s Sub Stop), may have also noticed an absence of certain products, such as Odwalla juices and smoothies and a wider selection of energy drinks.
Wagers said, “We re-configured our product selection when we created MacLeod’s convenience store, balancing product popularity with product availability and product merchandising space availability.”
Wagers explained that many products, such as the Odwalla beverages, are owned by Coca-Cola companies but are delivered separately from the majority of Coke products stocked by the College.
He then noted that the College still offers popular alternatives to former products. For example, Fuze juice beverages, which he said are “readily available from Coca-Cola,” have served to supplement the gap left by the removal of Odwalla juices.
“For merchandising space we focused on the core products of our business in the area of juice and energy drinks,” Wagers said.
Wagers also confirmed the inflated prices in MacLeod’s also do not pay for newer, more luxurious food options, such as sushi or Gourmet-on-the-Go canned meals. Wagers said, “The pricing in MacLeod’s pays for the cost [to the College] of the items and the cost of labor and benefits.”
Younger students may not realize the College actually carried Starbucks Coffee through the spring of 2008. Wagers gave two reasons for the initial switch: “In our quest to source more local foods we found a good local roaster: Caruso’s in Brecksville, [Ohio] and the price for Starbucks became cost prohibitive.”
According to Wagers, there are also two reasons the schools has re-introduced Starbucks to the campus. “Starbucks is a high quality brand with a devoted following, and Starbucks realized they had priced themselves out of a lot of business and has now presented a very competitive program,” Wagers explained.
Starbucks is currently served in Old Main CafÈ and MacLeod’s. Caruso’s special Wooster blend, roasted for the College by the local company, is still available in Lowry, Kittredge and Mom’s. “At this point we do not intend to expand Starbucks to all campus locations as we feel we currently have a successful blend of high-end Starbucks and locally roasted coffees available,” Wagers explained.