Is the Qdoba on campus a knock-off?

NAYONIKAA SINGHAAL
PHOTOGRAPHER

FILIPPOS MOURIKIS
STAFF WRITER

11/11/2024

The Qdoba restaurant on campus is one of the most attractive places for students to go and dine in: it is easy, fast and offers healthy meal options. But does Alma College provide its students with the real Qdoba experience? You know the quality that other Qdoba restaurants provide with quick service and with a wide variety of choices, but does the campus location compare?

“I do like using the option of Qdoba pretty often – it is easier to get to as well with my schedule – but I am getting kind of tired with the little amount of option that I have,” said Max Nielsen (‘27).

Nielsen’s opinion is representative of many student opinions on campus, including my own. Many of us want to use the Qdoba restaurant more, but I believe that, after a certain point, it just doesn’t interest us anymore because of the lack of variety, especially since the menu remains relatively the same for the entirety of the school year. 

Yet, there are even bigger concerns when it comes to our Qdoba restaurant on campus. I believe that the more important questions that we should think about are, “Do we think that the dining services our school provides us with use the same ingredients that other Qdoba restaurants do?” and, even if they do, “Is it going through the condition and procedures as other franchises?”

 “There are two types of Qdoba restaurants, there are two types of franchises, we are a franchise of Qdoba so we have to follow specific rules and guidelines, but we are not what you consider a full store, so we cannot provide a lot of the specials, or the limited time offers, because it is a different platform,” said Micah Braman, Metz employee.

Based on Braman’s statement, it seems that Qdoba and how it is run is not fully a responsibility of Metz nor completely in the college’s power to dictate what is and what isn’t served. So whose is it?

And, also, how can students like me feel confident to spend their money and expect to get a good, healthy and fulfilling meal when the only things that we hear around campus are that the ingredients that go into the food are not the right ones, in addition to already not getting the same portions that we would expect to get from a typical Qdoba restaurant?

Also, when thinking of the incoming freshman next year or the people that the college may be recruiting, it is hard not to consider how hearing negative opinions about food options on campus could potentially drive them away from making the decision to come to Alma. Things like these give a bad look to our college. 

On top of that, a lot of the students around campus have been complaining about how the price-to-amount ratio of the food that they receive when they go and buy a meal from Qdoba. 

“Almost every time that I would go and get a meal from Qdoba it would cost me almost more than fifteen dollars, but at the same time I would not be full by the time I finish it,” said Harley Dowell (‘28). 

While having a Qdoba on campus might seem like a convenient way to enjoy a favorite fast-casual chain, the experience doesn’t always live up to the name. Between limited options, questionable quality, and smaller portions, the campus version often falls short of the real Qdoba experience.