[dave6]

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i work for a major university dining hall. i do much of the financial stuff. lemme do a little breakdown here. this is all supposed to be confidential.

students are required to purchase at least 14 meals a week.(ive had people call and complain that this is either FAR TOO MUCH[understandable imo] or FAR TOO LITTLE[which i could not believe]) this averages to 2 meals per day or 3 meals per weekday. i believe the average cost per meal in the plans is somewhere around $6.40. looking at financial sheets, the food cost per patron served is $2.44. i suppose the other costs are administrative costs. i think we turned a very very small profit this year, but there are a ton of other costs, equipment, labor, etc. i imagine the numbers arent too far off. and to make meals for people it seems entirely necessary to have them pay beforehand so that you may properly prepare to make the correct amount of meals.

rj

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Standard. Most restaurants of any kind spend more money on labor, overhead, etc. than they do on the actual food. That's part of why portion sizes are so huge at restaurants (doesn't cost them much more, but you feel like you're getting a better value) and why McDonalds can let you super size for 50c or whatever.

Obv the corollary is that you can save a lot of money cooking food yourself instead of going out and paying someone to cook it for you.