UM-Flint Struggles With Campus Dining

In its first year of offering student housing, the University of Michigan at Flint has struggled to keep its new dining service financially viable, according to the Michigan Times student newspaper. Some of the major expenses were one-time costs related to setting up and opening the Riverview Dining residential dining hall and the Grill 155 retail operation. However, a more serious shortfall seems to come from a lack of adequate meal plan revenue.

The Times quoted Thereasa Landis, UM-Flint’s director of auxiliary and recreational services (which oversees dining), as saying that the dining operations need about 700 meal plan purchases to cover costs, but there currently are only about 300 residential students. This was the first year for a campus dining service at the school, which was forced to extend a $150,000 subsidy to cover the shortfall. The dining operations are contracted to Sodexo on a fee basis. The company manages not only the Riverview Room and Grill 155 but a deli and market on campus.