It’s a Wednesday night, and many Choate students traipse through their dorms looking for something to eat after a long afternoon of away games and long bus rides. Maybe they will find stale brownies from the mug night the day before or a friend’s Doritos. This will no longer be a problem because as of Wednesday, May 9, students will be able to have food delivered to them by the Student Council. Students will be able to place an order every other Monday, and expect food delivered to their dorms two nights later by Fifth- and Sixth-form Day Student Representative Matt Anastasio ’19, with help from other day student members of the Council, including Ryan Doyle ’21 and Ula Lucas ’21.
The delivery service is an extension of the Daily Grind, a historic Student Council initiative traditionally run by the Vice President, which sells food to students weekly and donates all proceeds to a predetermined charity. This year, the Student Council will be raising money for FoodShare, a charity which simultaneously minimizes food waste while providing food to the Connecticut homeless.
The first round of the delivery service will deliver only to the Hill quadrant of campus, to the dismay of many boarders who live in other areas. “We are using the first round as a test run, and then hopefully expanding it to one hundred orders. We’re starting small and growing it bigger. We’ll switch to other quadrants continuing through the year,” said Anastasio. Student Body President Itai Mupanduki ’19 added, “Our goal is to have a delivery service running, hopefully once a week, if it is a success. We would also want to expand the number of restaurants we do to eventually include Chipotle and other student favorites.”
There are still some logistics of the delivery service that Student Council is tackling. They initially chose Chick-fil-a to be the restaurant associated with the service. “There was a desire to not go to a place where UberEats already goes, or any place that already delivers. The idea was to go to some place that would be more challenging to get food from otherwise, and yet still some place that would have a relatively simple order process. The target was a restaurant that was a little bit further away, that doesn’t have delivery, but that does have a simple ‘burger and fries’ model,” stated Mr. Oliver Morris, Faculty Adviser to the Student Council. Added Anastasio, “This also gives people more incentive to order because they couldn’t get it delivered already. For practicality purposes, it’s easy to get a standardized menu from Chick-fil-a.” This choice, however, has faced opposition from the student body.
Mr. Morris explained the origin of the controversy: “There has been some response from the students to the choice of Chick-fil-a. It’s hopefully no secret to our students that there have been some practices by the CEO of Chick-fil-a, and the company itself gives money to organizations that some of the students aren’t in favor of.” Mupanduki added, “The Choate LGBTQ+ community and many of its supporters have spoken up about how they do not feel comfortable with Student Council doing an initiative supporting a company whose CEO uses company funds to support homophobic organizations.”
Continued Mr. Morris, “The question is whether or not we feel that the school and/or Student Council as an organization should be seen as promoting that company. What no one is saying is that individuals shouldn’t eat at Chick-fil-a. That’s a choice for those people in particular. But it’s a different thing if the student council is endorsing or promoting that company.”
Students have varied opinions on the subject. “There are people at this school who don’t support LGBTQ+ for whatever reason, whether that’s family, religion, culture, whatever it is,” said Jessie Goodwin ’20. However, Goodwin also understands the opposition to Chick-fil-a. “On the other hand, Choate is a community that should be as progressive as the most progressive person.”
Student Council is discussing several options besides Chick-fil-a, including Chipotle, McDonald’s, and Cheeks Chicken. The issue with Chipotle is the complexity of the menu. About McDonald’s, Mr. Morris said, “It’s not a great choice, but it is simple and close, and we know they can handle a big order like that. I don’t think anyone knows where they’re ultimately going to end up, because the whole idea is to test it and see how it goes. But I don’t think anything’s off the table as a possibility.” He continued, “Some students are interested in going with more local, non-chain restaurants to promote Wallingford business, and to make a greater connection between Choate and Wallingford.” Cheeks Chicken may be compatible with this idea. Mupanduki stated, “For our trial run of the delivery service this coming week, we are most likely going to deliver from Cheeks Chicken.”
The initiative in general is difficult in more ways than just logistics. “Personally, I’m not in love with the idea of encouraging our students to spend money on what maybe is not the best food in the world. But the motive is pure; the goal is a good one: to raise money for different organizations that need help. I think that’s a worthy cause, and I admire the idea that they’re willing to try new things to make that work,” stated Mr. Morris. “It’s hard, because every company, whether it’s private or not, has some sort of political leaning, and not everyone’s going to happy with any choice. What is the right decision for Student Council is what’s being deliberated over right now.”
