Local restaurants’ Caf Card programs develop at varying speeds

In Issue 76.2, The Commentator covered a story about the new food system and its relationship to the student body. As the article mentioned, there was an abrupt period during which the restaurants were no longer accepting the cards, for the program was taking a brief hiatus. New information has arisen regarding the nature of this hiatus.

Bruce Jacobs, YU’s Director of Dining Services, explained that during this time, while “the vendors were getting a hold of the proper equipment…we put the brakes on the system.” Although YU and the various food establishments had been speaking about this program for months, not all of the restaurants had obtained the technology to accept the Caf Card.

Many students may remember a short period when Golan was writing down names on a wrinkled sheet of lined paper. Apparently, Golan had not yet obtained the technology to take the YU Caf Cards, and planned to use this temporary solution until the technology arrived. (The sheet of names was given to YU for recording.) And as for the 15 percent extra charge that Golan had imposed, it never really happened. “As soon as I got wind of that, I made them take it down,” Mr. Jacobs assured. Yet, there has been no word regarding whether students who had paid the 15% charge to Golan were refunded their money.

Although Chop Chop and Lake Como are now using advanced analog systems to process the credits, Golan is using a slow dial-up method. At Golan, a student may notice this while waiting for his or her card to process. When asked about the 15 percent extra charge and the use of the dial-up method, Golan declined to comment.

Now that the system is finally up and running, the administration is anxiously watching its success. In the future, there could be more money on the account, but that is yet to be determined. A lot of what happens may be dependent on YU’s finances.

At the same time, many YU students may have not yet come to terms with the limits of the plan, while others have. To quote Jacobs, “some people will just blow through the money, and others won’t.”