New Corner meal plan starts this semester

The Spring 2016 Semester has dawned something that can only be deemed as truly iconic:

A Corner Meal Plan.

My body is ready

Indeed, the rumors are (thankfully) true. The sweet sanctuary that exhibits the delicacies of Little John’s, studiousness at Starbucks, and ratchets at Trin will now foster a student meal plan.

The student corner meal plan was created by UVA’s very own Josh Cohen (CLAS ’13) and Seth Kramer (COMM ’15).

“COMM ‘15”. Not even going to feign surprise at that one.

For some time, the student body has rallied against certain spots on grounds. After spurts of Ebola surfaced at “NO-hill” concerns began to arise. Concern later became magnified when later questionable food choices emerged during the academic year.

Looks are deceiving

The plan is part of a catering company which has been established on grounds for the past few years.

“Over the past three years, we’ve served over 40,000 meals to fraternities and sororities through FlashCater. We wanted to create a meal plan that the rest of the school could use as well. We also want to bring more revenue to local businesses on the Corner,” said Marketing Coordinator Victoria Nguyen.

Restaurants featured within the meal plan include Trinity Irish Pub, Rev Soup, Two Guys Tacos, Cafe Caturra, Gingko, Coupes, Eddy’s Tavern, Christian’s Pizza, Michael’s Bistro. More restaurants will be added within the upcoming weeks.

Adios UVA Dining! “Fresh” Food Company???

Perhaps so, as this new meal plan serves as a fantastic alternative to UVA Dining featuring a wide array of restaurants and selections. Seriously, I can’t stress how needed this is after my experiences with UVA dining last year. Last year, the vegetarian option of the day at Newcomb was sautéed spinach with ketchup.

Ketchup.

Safe to say, something needed to change within our meal plans. Admittedly, some of these restaurants might seem a bit skeptical (looking at you, Trin), but the options that each of these restaurants offer aren’t too shabby.

Students can purchase different plans: the lowest plan consists of 15 meals ($163), equating to  $9.74/meal while the highest plan consists of 105 meals ($1045), equating to $8.87/meal. Once the plan is purchased, the student goes to a website app which will be scanned each time they purchase a meal.

“We have a web app students can use on their mobile browser to pay for meals, order ahead for take-out, and keep track of how many meals they have left,” said Victoria.

Each swipe provides you with one entree, and some restaurants will also provide one to two sides or a drink. And yes, meals will roll over to the next semester.

Meals are currently available for purchase at www.elevatemealplan.com.