The Subway on the Downtown campus will not accept M&G Dollars, said an official from RCC Partners, the company that owns the sandwich restaurant.
RCC Partners LLC General Manager John Horsager said the negotiations with Aramark Ltd. ended three weeks ago because accepting the meal plan would have cost Subway too much money.
“If we actually went with the program, we would’ve lost money,” Horsager said.
Since M&G Dollars go through student’s meal plans, Aramark charges restaurants a percentage to use the system. However, Horsager said RCC Partners is in the process of accepting the Sun Dollars meal plan “as soon as possible.”
“We are trying to get that program rolled out for sure,” Horsager said.
Horsager said RCC wanted to implement M&G Dollars into their restaurant because it would have been a great opportunity to serve students on the Downtown campus.
“Without the students, we would have not much business there,” Horsager said. “We wanted to be very convenient for everybody that was located there.”
Horsager added he was disappointed a deal was unable to be struck between RCC and Aramark to implement M&G Dollars.
An official from Aramark Ltd. said she could not comment about ongoing negotiations with other vendors on or near the Downtown campus. She also chose not to comment on questions regarding the failed negotiations with RCC Partners LLC or the possibility of future negotiations with the company.
Currently, only a few locations on the Downtown campus accept M&G Dollars: Taylor Place Dining Hall, the Starbucks and the convenience store on Taylor Mall, City Café in the University Center and Domino’s Pizza located on North Central Avenue and Thomas Road.
Nursing freshman Joel Bumanglag uses M&G Dollars frequently to eat at Taylor Place Dining Hall, but he said he wishes there was more variety on the Downtown campus.
“All of the eateries here should accept M&G because it’s downtown Phoenix; it’s a college place,” Bumanglag said. “Tempe has other eateries that accept M&G — like Burger King inside the [Memorial Union] and Taco Bell. Why shouldn’t that happen here?”
Bumanglag also said he didn’t know every location – for example, Domino’s Pizza – that accepted M&G. “They should give us a list of eateries that accept M&G so we know where we can use the M&G,” Bumanglag said.
Reach the reporter at snrodri2@asu.edu
