Following minimum wage bump, UC Davis increases dining prices

DAVIS, Calif. — Starting Sept. 22, much of the food and beverages sold at Associated Student (AS) Dining Services increased in price for the first time in four years. AS Dining Services, made up of the ASUCD Coffee House, CoHo South Café and CoHo-To-Go Convenience Store, last increased prices in 2010. While certain foods, including yogurt and whole fruits, have remained at the same price, other items have become more expensive. This change is largely due to the increase of California’s minimum wage, which has gone from $8 to $9 per hour. Prices generally increased about 30 to 50 cents per item.

“We’ve been looking at this, probably for the past year, as something on the horizon we would need to address,” said Darin Schluep, food service director of AS Dining Services. “When we first heard of the plan to increase California’s minimum wage, we knew we would have to react to that.”

Schluep says that increasing food prices also played a role in his decision to increase prices at AS Dining Services.

“There are increases in the costs of doing business in food services,” Schluep said. “We are certainly not alone in having to increase prices. We’ve seen a 33 percent increase in poultry prices in the past years; dairy prices have gone up. As [the prices of] some of these staple items have gone up, we can absorb that for a certain amount of time, but we eventually have to change.”

Rachel Pyle, the out-front student manager for AS Dining Services, said she initially felt nervous about the change, but understood the need for the price increase.

“The first time I heard about the plan to adjust prices was at one of our management meetings toward the end of the [last academic year],” Pyle said. “When the causes were all explained