Over 65% of students at Terra Linda High School eat at the “food cart” at lunch and brunch, based off a poll given to anonymous people at lunchtime. But this raises questions like where does it come from? What are the people paying for? Most people who were surveyed only bought the food because it was convenient, and relatively cheap compared to other food sources such as Kaiser, or even Safeway. The cart, being on campus, is the easiest choice for those who don’t have a car or a bike to acquire superior culinary tastes. But that food may not be the best  quality, or the best prices. It costs two $2.50 for a small sandwich, for a box that usually contains mostly rice and a few pieces of meat. This is not enough food for high school students, who need 2,000 calories a day on average. Another issue with the cart is that the prices were raised by twenty five to fifty percent since last year. Cookies cost 75 cents now when they use to cost 50, PB and J sandwiches were raised from one dollar to one dollar and 25 cents. Seventy-five cents for students is fairly useless, as most other things cost one dollar.

The price of the food  at the food cart used to be convenient, however the price raise has been noticed and is disliked. Terra Linda junior Derek Crosby states,”It’s pretty annoying, especially since the quality isn’t that great.” The price has inconvenienced multiple students who sometimes just need another quarter to pay for their lunch, but now need fifty cents. This may not seem as a big rise in price and really it shouldn’t be. The big problem with it is that there is no longer the same convenience there used to be. Other than convenience there is almost no difference between the food cart and the cafeteria besides one being outside. The food cart is still more convenient than the cafeteria because the price for a box of food, like the one stated earlier, costs $3.50, but the food cart isn’t far from that. Crosby also stated,” I think that they should drop the prices. It would probably make more money that way because more people will buy more of the food. All they have to do is fix the quality.”

Another big problem with the cart besides poor food quality and higher prices is inefficiency. While it may be faster than the cafeteria, the cart has no way of making a quick system without there being obvious cutting and rejection of service for “not being in line.” The people who arrive a little late sometimes don’t even get to grab whatever the specialty of the day is. They have also put a time limit on the food being there so if you show up a little later than usual to avoid the crowd, you might not be able to still get the specialty item. The time limit gives two options, either get to the cart fast and get through the crowd, or go to the cafeteria because you’re more than likely to miss your chance. The quality may be improving, as Terra Linda Junior Ian Huntress stated,”Wow it actually isn’t complete gmo’s and cardboard.” But it is still inefficient. The quality can change but the cart we still be inefficient if they want to keep convenience.

This all being said, the main problem that needed speaking on was the prices on the cart. The cafeteria needs to as well, but most students haven’t even been in there and the quality of the food has been spoken about already. The prices of the food has inconvenienced many students who could barely afford it before, or just found enough change in their wallet to get a cookie or two. Hopefully the cart is worked on for the better so that students buy from it more often.