The real meal deal: assessing student preferences for “real food” at Fort Lewis College

Fort Lewis College committed to purchasing 20% real food by 2020 as part of a national campaign called the Real Food Challenge, an initiative on college campuses that aims to shift food procurement toward real food, defined as ecologically sound, humane, fair, or local. Our research explored student preferences regarding food at Fort Lewis College. We analyzed students’ willingness-to-pay for 20% real food and the characteristics that predicted this willingness-to-pay. We also examined food preference parameters outside of the Real Food Challenge categories, considering how factors such as taste, health, price, and convenience influenced students when choosing what to eat. We found that all four Real Food Challenge categories were important to respondents, and two-thirds of respondents were willing to pay more for real food. Yet overall, taste, health, and price were statistically more important than any of the Real Food Challenge categories to respondents. Statistically significant positive parameters driving willingness-to-pay more for real food were that a respondent considered environment an important factor when deciding what to eat, that a respondent agreed with the statement “It is important that my food reflect my values,” that sustainability was a factor for the respondent in deciding what school to attend, and that a respondent was from Colorado (in-state). Convenience was a negative parameter. In order to match these student preferences, campus dining services should emphasize benefits to taste and health when creating real food meals and should attempt to meet Real Food Challenge objectives with minimal price increases.