100 Pounds Of Nutella A Day At Columbia University Student Dining

Wow! Students at the Columbia University are really loving the Nutella. In an article from the University’s Columbia Daily Spectator, “Since Dining started offering Nutella in Ferris Booth last month, administrators have observed a high demand for the sweet spread—up to 100 pounds of Nutella a day.” The reason? Students are stealing the chocolate-hazelnut topping, putting it in jars, and bringing it to their dorms.

“The demand [for Nutella] has been greater than originally expected,” Vicki Dunn, executive director of Dining Services, said in an email. “Students have been filling cups of Nutella to-go in Ferris Booth Commons and taking the full jars out of John Jay, which means we’re going through product faster than anticipated.”

Dunn told Columbia College Student Council representatives that the total spent on Nutella came to $5,000 per week since it was first offered in Ferris the week of Feb. 11, representative Peter Bailinson, CC ’16 and a Spectator outreach and development associate, said. Dunn “couldn’t really believe it either, just how much they were going through the stuff,” Bailinson said. At that rate, Dining would spend $250,000 on the product in one year.

Dunn declined to comment on how much Dining spends on specific foods in the dining halls.

Ferris Booth Commons serves between 2,400 and 3,000 students per day, and John Jay serves between 2,200 and 2,600, according to Dunn.

The problem, said CCSC representative Grayson Warrick, CC ’16, who was also in the meeting with Dunn, is that many people are taking Nutella out of the dining hall and letting it go to waste.

While Dining is not considering getting rid of Nutella, it has noted that it is hesitant to offer other “luxury” items, like lobster tails, due to similarly high anticipated demand. Dunn does not characterize Nutella as especially expensive, she said.