Your meal plan allows you to eat in a Dining Services operated dining hall or retail facility, but NOT ALL Dining Services retail facilities accept the meal plan.

If you choose to use your meal plan in our retail locations, you will be allowed a $10 value* which will consist of a center of the plate item such as a sandwich, a side and a fountain beverage. Most of the items on the menu will fit into this value, but if you choose an item that costs more, you will be charged the difference in cash, credit or RU Express.

 

*value at Henry’s Diner may be higher due to its style of service.

 Retail/Takeout Locations that accept Meal Swipes

Cafe West

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Brower Commons Takeout

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Henry's Diner

Meal swipes are only accepted during designated times. $10 meal value. Click for details.

Kilmer's Market

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Sbarro

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Rock Cafe

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Livingston Dining Commons Takeout

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Cook Cafe

Meal Swipes are accepted all day.

Grill closes two hours before closing.

Douglass Cafe

Meal Swipes are accepted all day.

Harvest IFNH

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Red Pine Pizza

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Neilson Dining Hall Takeout

Meal swipes are accepted.

Busch Dining Hall Takeout

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Harvest Juice Bar

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Woodys

Meal swipes are accepted all day except from 12pm – 1pm.

Knight Wagon

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Starbucks Truck

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

Three Chilies Taco Truck

Meal swipes are accepted all day.

 Frequently Asked Questions

Rutgers Dining Services meal plans are designed for “all you care to eat” in the dining halls. We understand that students are very busy and need the flexibility to eat on the run, since sitting in a dining hall requires more time than a quick serve retail location.

Overhead, in the retail locations our costs are much different than in the dining halls. We are required to purchase take out containers, cups, lids, plastic forks, knives, spoons, plastic bags and pay royalties and/or rent.

Here is an example as to how our costs are broken down if you paid $14 for your meal swipe. In the food service industry, expenses are broken down into four parts: 30 percent is the cost of food, 30 percent is the cost of labor, 30 percent is fixed expenses (utilities, rent, etc..) which leaves 10 percent for capital improvement (upgrades, repairs and renovations).

If our plate cost for your meal is $4.20, which includes your center of the plate item, side, beverage, plastic, paper goods and condiments, then we need to allocate $4.20 to Labor and $4.20 to fixed expenses, which would, leave only $1.40 for capital improvements.

Ultimately, the biggest bang for your buck is in the dining hall because of the “all you care to eat option” which we are able to do because of the economy of scale and not having the expenses associated with retail operations.

We do not have enough store room space or refrigerator space to accommodate the amount of product required for “grocery shopping”. Rutgers Dining Services used to allow students to swipe for anything they wanted up to the value of their meal swipe, but this resulted in constant outages, warm beverage items and an overall poor experience for our students.

Currently, Rutgers Dining Services serves over 30,000 meals every day with a large amount of that coming from our retail locations. Our retail units were designed for 25 percent of the volume they are experiencing. We are striving to better serve you on a daily basis and will be opening more retail locations for you to use with your meal plan in the future.

Three (3) total meal swipes per day is permitted across all retail/dining hall takeout operations.

You are always welcome to eat in the dining halls as often as you choose.