The increasing expenses have also prompted DDS to raise meal-plan prices between 4 and 5 percent since last year, depending on the meal plan, Blume said.
"For the current fiscal year, to date (through Sept.), DDS's expense for food sold is 19 percent greater than last year, while for the same period our retail sales are up by 11.4 percent," Blume said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "As a percentage of sales, our food expense has increased by 6.8 percent."
In addition, nearly all DDS expenses have risen this year, Blume said in the e-mail.
Wages and benefits have increased by 4.9 percent; heating expenses by 11.9 percent; the cost of composting, recycling, and trash removal by 87 percent; and property taxes by 5.6 percent, according to Blume.
DDS policy states that all food prices must be set for the entire academic year in September.
"Over the summer months, we review every single item to see if there are any pricing adjustments necessary," Tucker Rossiter, DDS director, said in a May 2008 interview with The Dartmouth. "We don't take a broad-stroke approach unlike some schools with all-you-can-eat plans. We look at all our items individually."
DDS Associate Director David Newlove said that price increases have been widespread at the College and have affected a number of food items.
"Food costs are, on average, rising 10 percent," Newlove said in an interview with The Dartmouth earlier this term. "We did have an across-the-board 4.8 percent increase at the beginning of fall term. Food costs are rising because all kinds of things are going up, like fuel surcharges."
Marty Emerson, a DDS employee at Homeplate Grill, said some menu items increase in price at a nearly annual rate.
"Almost every year, the chicken prices will go up and the burger prices will go up," Emerson said. "Grain prices for items like cereal have gone up through the roof. Either way, we're also paying more."
Emerson added that DDS is considering changing some of its vendors in an effort to cut costs.
"Right now, we're looking at changing our hamburger beef for another group of guys that are more local at about half an hour away," Emerson said. "They're prices are a little cheaper. We're actually hoping we can drop our prices down with them. DDS is trying to keep their prices within reason, and if we can down drop the prices down to make them a little cheaper, we will. We want to, because we want to make the students happy."
Newlove dismissed the idea that buying food from local farmers will reduce prices, because rising fuel costs are causing local providers to raise their prices as well.
Rossiter said he believes that the system the College uses for its dining plans is better than what other colleges and universities offer their students. But despite DDS's efforts to prevent rapidly escalating food prices, Alex Tejeda '12, a DDS employee at Topside convenience store said he does not think it has been enough to help students bear the costs.
"Food is really expensive here," he said. "It's like you're going to a restaurant every time you eat. I'm at like $530 already, and I don't think my dining plan is going to even last me for the rest of the term."
-- Staff writer Vera Bergengruen contributed to the reporting of this article
