BYU Dining Shoots Itself In the Foot

Lines of students crisscross the Cougareat like ants. They began assembling around midmorning, but it’s the afternoon now and the lines have only grown. 

This scene is not a fluke or a post-devotional rush. From closed restaurants, long wait times, and empty vending machines, BYU’s staffing shortage is undeniable.

An orange banner on the BYU Dining Services website reads, “Due to staffing issues, Dining restaurants may have inconsistent hours of operations for both in-person and mobile ordering. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes.” For the last month, a sign outside the vacant Taco Bell has promised a $50 referral bonus for prospective hires. Until recently, Taco Bell, Papa John’s, and Subway were completely closed. The Tanner Building’s  Blue Line Deli is rarely open for more than a few hours each day, sometimes missing the breakfast rush altogether.

Dean Wright, Managing Director for BYU Dining Services, told the Daily Universe that they have less than half the student workers they need.

But the Cougareat is not the only area of campus struggling to attract help. Professors I spoke with said teaching assistants are also hard to come by. One of my classes doesn’t have any TAs, which has never happened in that class before.

Universities nationwide are struggling to fill jobs that are normally staffed before classes even start. 

When the pandemic hit, many businesses furloughed employees without compensation. I had several friends who were furloughed by BYU when classes switched online. Now, BYU is trying to hire those workers back with limited success.

Notably, industries like food service have experienced high turnover even pre-COVID. In 2019, there were nearly a million job openings in the food and hospitality sector, and workers have cited the high cost of burnout for years. Low pay, difficult customers, and inconsistent scheduling remain primary concerns.

Is it really a surprise then, that businesses in the Cougareat are having a tough time hiring back staff?

Off campus, wages have risen significantly to keep up with the labor shortage. Entry level fast-food workers experienced an average pay increase of 10% last quarter alone. Nationally, McDonald’s now pays between $11-17/hour.

In contrast, the job listing for a “baking specialist” at the Subway in the Wilkinson offers $10 an hour. This is consistent with the starting pay of all Cougareat locations.

The question is: if BYU can’t find enough “sandwich artists,” vending machine stockers, and teaching assistants, then why don’t they raise their pay to match the market rate in broader Provo?

BYU jobs tout their flexibility, but students can make as much as $25 an hour delivering food. With DoorDash and UberEats, they can completely set their own schedules. Flexibility just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Wages in the job market have risen, and BYU has failed to keep pace with the restaurants just a few minutes drive from the edge of campus. 

The Wendy’s on Cougar Boulevard, for example, starts employees between $10-12/hour. The Burger King on University Avenue? $12-14/hour. The Little Caesar’s on 900 East pays $13-15/hour.

You might wonder whether the Cougareat Papa John’s or Wendy’s can afford to raise wages. But even if they had to raise prices, it stands to reason these campus restaurants would still make more money than they do when they remain closed during busy hours. Surely Average Joe from Gilbert, Arizona would pay an extra $00.50 for a Crunchwrap Supreme if it meant skipping the line at Aloha Plate.

It’s one thing if budget constrained academic departments are unable to find help because they lack the funds to raise pay (although a university run by a church with a $100 billion endowment fund doesn’t have great excuses for underpaying student employees, budgets aside). It’s another when profit-making institutions in the Cougareat choose not to raise pay. 

The dining hall in the Wilkinson Center is dysfunctional, and students deserve access to a functional dining hall. Closed restaurants don’t benefit anyone. Not the restaurants, not the students they serve, and certainly not the workers they employ.

While the situation has improved in the last week with some restaurants reopening, we are over a month into the semester. Today, Taco Bell was closed at peak lunch hour. Hours continue to be irregular across campus, with late starts and early closures. Mobile ordering is periodically down, and vending machines are barren. Many classes are still short on teaching assistants, which could stunt learning outcomes for the many students who depend on their TAs for extra help.

Pay your employees fair wages and the problem will work itself out. You may even make money in the process. Fail to act, and staffing issues will persist for months to come.