Late Night dining needs a major overhaul. The 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. meal, offered daily at the Class of 1953 Commons, is a staple of the Dartmouth community, beloved by late-working students and inebriated partygoers alike. While I am strongly in favor of the concept and have definitely enjoyed my fair share of chicken tenders and cheesy fries, the only food option on campus past 9 p.m. is lacking in several important areas. The drawbacks can be sorted into three main categories: nutritional value, price and variety.
Late Night’s daily selection includes quesadillas, burritos, an assortment of fried goods, candy and a few other options. While this sounds like a wide array of goods, the choices narrow down after accounting for price and satiation. When trying to optimize for something that will fill me and taste good, I usually look towards the burrito bowl or chicken tenders because candy bars and the other fried foods seem like a waste of dining dollars. I propose that Dartmouth Dining adds a new food station that either adds to or replaces one of the existing hot food stations, depending on staffing. This station could serve pizza, omelettes, pasta or whatever else students might suggest on a rotating schedule.
After purchasing my food and looking for a drink, I am always dismayed by the mini plastic cups with the capacity to hold a modest sip of liquid offered for free. A fountain drink typically costs a restaurant 15 cents. A proper cup, though, sells for 2.20 dining dollars at Late Night — an ungodly, nearly 15-times markup. Late Night should offer free regular sized soda cups to all students, regardless if they make a purchase or not.
Moreover, Dartmouth Dining could provide the reusable cups used for the other three meals at ’53 Commons and clean them the following morning. This solution would be both economical and environmentally friendly. In the same vein, there is no need for all of the plastic cutlery; metal utensils would be far more effective and save Dartmouth Dining money that could go towards the initiatives outlined in this piece, not to mention the additional benefit of reducing single use plastics on campus.
A Late Night swipe is worth 6.25 dining dollars. While the high prices for the prepackaged third party goods make sense considering that they are resold, there is no reason that a modest meal combo should cost more than a swipe given the high-margin nature of prepared food. For example, if you want a half-serving of chicken tenders with a half-serving of fries; cheese fries and a garlic knot; or a single order of mozzarella sticks, you will spend several dining dollars on top of your swipe. There is a burrito bowl meal deal that fits into a swipe, but Dartmouth Dining should expand this to other options on the menu. Not every item needs a price reduction, but a few more popular food combinations should be priced to fit inside of a swipe.
Nutritious options at Late Night are more or less nonexistent. There are few options for high protein meals that don’t come fried or processed, nor are there robust fruit or veggie selections. The only options containing any substantive nutritional value whatsoever are sushi, prepackaged salads and wraps. However, many students balk at the absurd price tags on these items: A chicken caesar wrap will run you 11 dining dollars, and a modest portion of caesar salad costs just over 7 dining dollars. A salad bar and or a sandwich bar, as offered during the other meals, would be much more cost effective than these prepackaged options and give much needed customization to Late Night diners. Students come to Late Night because they are hungry, yet they are pigeonholed into calorie-dense, highly processed choices.
Finally, the lines at Late Night are an issue. The hardworking staff do their best to ring up everyone in a timely manner, but it is simply not feasible to expect to advance quickly in line with only two registers. Adding an additional register only for scannable items, such as bottled drinks, candy and other packaged goods, could serve as an “express lane” and require little oversight given the minimal computer operation required. This suggestion would significantly increase efficiency, thereby shrinking the number of students waiting in line at a given time.
These interventions to make Late Night the best it could be would not be cheap, but the funding could be pulled from a variety of sources. As mentioned above, driving students to more appealing prepared food while reducing single-use plastics would cut significant overhead costs, opening the door to these much needed alterations. Furthermore, creating a more in-demand product and speeding up the checkout process would drive more traffic through Late Night, creating more long-term revenue that would offset costs incurred by these improvements.
Late Night is a welcome part of campus life, and the school in conjunction with Dartmouth Dining should do everything in their power to make it better. There are many parts of the experience that could be changed to provide students with higher quality, healthier and more enjoyable options.
Timothy Kempton is a member of the Class of 2030. Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
