Recent technical malfunctions with the Chartwells dining system have students calling for a reevaluation of the management of Mabee Market. From high prices, technical issues and lack of item variety, students have plenty of gripes.
On Oct. 13, there was a technical glitch in the Chartwells system that prevented users from using anything but Bonus Bucks to pay for items. The glitch also increased the time it took to check out and pay for items. The system failure caused a backlog of shoppers and even prevented students from purchasing food and other necessities from Mabee Market.
Mabee Market is a miniature store that is attached to Mabee Dining Hall. Mabee Market is open 8-12 a.m. Monday-Thursday, 8-1 a.m. Friday and 10-1 a.m. Saturday-Sunday. Mabee Market is unique because other dining options close before 9 p.m. The market is also home to a restaurant, Breakfast & Co., which is open 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Sunday-Thursday and 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Friday-Saturday.
Ivy Toler, first-year environmental studies major, recalled being at Mabee Market while the system was malfunctioning.
“I was there the day the swipes weren’t working, and it took a whole two minutes for [the kiosk] to even let Bonus Bucks through. I was actually planning on getting food there but chose not to,” Toler said.
This isn’t the first time the Chartwells system has been down. Ciaran Williams, first-year psychology and math double-major, recounted his experiences with Mabee Market.
“There was a day where the whole system went down. … Some days it just won’t accept my meal swipes there, and also there’s a couple items that just don’t scan,” Williams said.
Chartwells has introduced numerous Mabee Market policy changes and updates since the school year began. The limit on meal-board-equivalency swipes per day for places outside of Mabee Dining Hall, including Mabee Market, was changed. At the beginning of the year students had unlimited swipes outside of Mabee Dining Hall, but then Chartwells changed it back to one meal swipe outside of the dining hall per day. However, Chartwells did raise the value of a meal swipe equivalency from $6.50 to $8.00 in response to rising prices.
Thomas Melina Raab, sophomore communication major, reflected on the changes.
“There’s a good selection but I do miss [Steak ‘n Shake] … I don’t really understand why they made [the checkout] self-serve because sometimes it makes the process slower,” Raab said. “Now that [the two meal swipe allowance] is gone it makes the unlimited meal plan completely arbitrary.”
Selection-wise, Mabee Market has a wide range of products. Chartwells sells over-the-counter drugs, tampons, various candies and snacks. However, Mabee Market, unlike its predecessor, was never meant to be an alternative to an actual supermarket or grocery store. Andrew Eddings, first-year neuroscience major, believes that Mabee Market should include more grocery items.
“If they had more kinda like grocery things it would be nice,” Eddings said. “It would be nice if they had stuff like milk, or some fruit and things like that … [but] it’s almost always more worth it for me to get stuff at H-E-B.”
Chartwells has introduced some new food items at Mabee Market. “I like the new foods they’ve added in, like all the types of ice cream, hot pockets and the new sushi rolls. I like a lot of the food they have … but it feels overpriced,” Toler said. “I don’t think I’ve gone somewhere where I’ve had to pay $3.50 for a bag of Skittles … I would just like literally some types of chips [other than] just Pringles,” Williams said.
Students may find Mabee Market too pricey and too limited in its selections, but it’s the best option for students to quickly grab a bite at night. Regardless of the criticisms of Mabee Market and the recent changes and technical difficulties, as of right now, it is one of the more convenient dining options at Trinity.
