Vendor change means cafeteria pizza is smaller but still the same price

Photo by Isabelle Yang

The line to get pizza was long on a recent day.

During lunchtime a trail of students lines up behind the pizza cart, religiously relying on the cheesy goodness every day.

At the beginning of the school year, however, students have noticed a major difference in the pizza sizes: The slices are smaller, but have the same price tag.

The reason? The school has switched vendors: from Round Table Pizza to Mountain Mike’s Pizza, according to cafeteria head Pam Carolina.

“Round Table raised their prices this year, so it isn’t affordable anymore,” Carolino said.

Although this subject may seem inconsequential, some students aren’t fans of the change.

“I think it’s extremely cheap for the school to charge me the same amount of money they used to for a slice of pizza that’s half the size,” junior Gina Hinojosa said. “The school needs to lower the price of the pizza or bring back the old pizza.”

Not all students are upset, however. Though smaller, the new pizza tastes much better in the view of junior Jaijit Singh.

“I prefer Mountain Mike’s to Round Table because it tastes better,” Singh said. “But at the same time, most of my friends and I don’t care about the taste [as much as we do about the size]. Kids need calories to work as hard as they do.”

Like Singh, freshman Monica Stratakos said the smaller serving size may be beneficial when looking at it from a health perspective, but she needs the extra carbohydrates and fats in order to feel energized during sports.

“Considering that I play a lot of tennis, I really require the extra fuel the bigger slices give me in order to ensure that I have maximum results when playing,” Stratakos said.

Although students may have differing views on the taste and size of the new pizza, one thing is for certain: It seems there will always be an outrageously long line of students with $2.50 in their pockets to spend on cafeteria pizza, no matter what its size is.