In light of the comments Students’ Administrative Council presidential candidate Noel Semple made to the Varsity in its March 18, 2002 edition, we at the Vegetarium Café feel it necessary to dispel the apparent ignorance surrounding our student funding.
Three years ago, several members of the U of T community got together to discuss what they saw as a significant shortfall of the established university food services infrastructure—a lack of facilities catering to those with specific dietary needs or restrictions. The particular groups identified included vegetarians, vegans, and those with more-common-than-you-think food allergies such as lactose and gluten intolerance. The fruit of this discussion was the Vegetarium Café.
At our inception, we received a grant of $5000 from SAC and grants and loans from other organizations to provide our non-profit group with the capital necessary to start a small business. Since the café was a service primarily targeted at students, money from student groups was generally in the form of grants representing an investment in the student service infrastructure, whereas monies from sympathetic organizations was structured as subsidized (no interest) debt. Anyone familiar with commerce can attest to the intensity of investment needed to start a small business, and our café has been no exception to the rule.
At the start of this school year, we reached a critical point in the life of the Vegetarium. We became part of the UC flex-dollar program, meaning significant new business for our café—a level of business needed if we were to cover our operating costs. In order to accommodate the demands placed on the café, we approached SAC with a request for a final infusion of funding. Our needs essentially involved covering the costs of preparing our café for the added business the UC plan would bring us.
With the additional business brought in by UC flex dollars and our own “Vegetarium” meal plan, we now serve almost 100 customers daily. At our semi-annual meeting, we concluded that in order to meet continued operating expenses and our future capital needs without relying on external subsidies, it was necessary to raise our prices slightly. Even so, a full meal can be purchased for only $4.75, including tax! Interest in the café has grown enormously this year.
We find customers to be incredibly appreciative of the tasty, healthy, and affordable food we offer.
We are proud to say that we expect to report an operating profit for the school year at a level at which we may meet our debt-repayment schedule with enough leftover to fund our future capital needs without becoming the “regular line item on the SAC budget” Semple believes us to be. For SAC’s total investment of only $12,000 (a contribution of approximately $0.35 per student), the student body now has access to a permanent vegetarian food service that offers delicious and affordable international cuisine.
We invite anyone who has not yet experienced our café to come and enjoy a meal with us at the International Student Centre (33 St. George Street). We also invite anyone concerned with our operations and financing to join us at our Annual General Meeting to be held at the end of April. We do not invite, however, ax-wielding candidates to use us as a poster-child for government waste.
