Staff meal deal: new payment method

Discounted staff meal deals are becoming a permanent feature of our campus menus from April 2024, which will require colleagues to buy them in a new way.

The cheaper staff meals are switching to our Clever Cuisine meal plans - making it easier to swipe and save using your Campus Card.

The staff meal deal was first introduced in October 2022 to help colleagues combat cost of living pressures. They offer selected meals and a hot drink for £5.50 – less than half the normal price – at Eat At The Square and Park Eat.

After the Easter break, the meal deals will become part of our Clever Cuisine scheme introduced for students this academic year. The scheme allows users to buy blocks of meals to use whenever they like.

That means from 3 April onwards, you will need to buy meal plans of 10 meals for £55 from the Clever Cuisine website in order to obtain the staff discount. These are loaded onto your staff (purple top) Campus Card and can be redeemed by swiping it on entry to the outlet, before collecting your meal.

The meals blocks can be purchased from the Clever Cuisine website or at the payment desk in Park Eat.

Single full price meals can continue to be purchased in the normal way at the till.

About Clever Cuisine

Clever Cuisine is merging all our meal plans into one system that allows students in catered accommodation, and others who buy a plan, to buy meals more cheaply and flexibly.

A Meal Swipe is the currency of the Clever Cuisine system and can be exchanged for entry to one of our pay-on-entry locations such as Park Eat, Eat at the Square, Wantage (Halls Staff only) or St Patrick’s by tapping in using a staff Campus Card.

The Dairy will exchange a Meal Swipe for an eat-in main meal with a hot drink and a piece of fruit when ordered at the bar.

This payment change is part of a wider Digital Dining project. Further sites and functionality, such as click and collect, online menus and ordering to tables, will be introduced later in the year once our tills and systems have been upgraded.

Campus Card payments

As shared with colleagues last summer, the tills upgrade also means Campus Card payments are being phased out and will not be accepted after 27 March 2024.

The exceptions are the ICMA Café, Mail Shop in Whiteknights House, The MERL gift shop and café, and the Library helpdesk, which will all continue to accept Campus Card payments.