The Vantage on StuyVantage

The Student Union (SU) introduced a new program that offers discounts at eateries near Stuyvesant to the student body on February 12. “The idea originated a while back when we used to have a of of sponsorships from stores around us, but it was not yet called StuyVantage,” SU President William Wang said. The StuyVantage program provides a 10 percent discount at Terry’s and Shake Shack and a 15 percent discount at Poke Green.

Despite the implications of cheaper food in an otherwise expensive area, few students are aware of the discount or go to places where it’s offered. The SU is working on spreading awareness and extending the program to more places.

Sophomore Julianna Yu, for example, regularly goes to Ferry’s, a gourmet deli right across the street from Stuyvesant, and the Kung Fu Tea (KFT) store on Greenwich Street. Neither of these places currently offers a student discount, which means that Yu has to pay full price for a drink or around five or six dollars for a sandwich. “I don’t go to the places with the discount because I don’t think their food is as good as places like Ferry’s,” Yu said. Yu also loves the variety and accessibility of Ferry’s.

Ferry’s, which is so quick and convenient for students, does not offer a discount because it knows that it doesn’t need to provide an incentive for students to go there. “Companies that know they won’t lose sales or attention by not giving a discount will not budge, but we will continue working on Ferry’s,” Wang explained.

Ferry’s got its nickname for being the fake “Terry’s,” another deli near the school next to Battery Park. Terry’s isn’t as popular but does offer the discount, though this does not seem to be affecting the students very much. Sophomore Enrique Arcaina, for instance, still goes to Terry’s but was not aware that there was a discount. Arcaina spends on average $7.50 whenever he goes to Terry’s, meaning he would save $0.75 with each purchase and around $5.00 a month.

B​y offering a student discount, even fast food establishments could attract more customers: “I technically go to Chipotle every once in a while but if there [were] a discount there, I would probably go more often,” Arcaina, who gets dinner in the area after late nights with the Robotics Team, said. Despite Chipotle’s popularity among students, we might be a long way from a discount. “Chain companies like Chipotle and [KFT] are harder to reach out to since there is one main headquarters and there’s a huge corporate bureaucracy taking longer for them to get back to you,” Wang said. In spite of marketing difficulties, the SU is currently working on getting discounts at Zucker’s, Whole Foods, and KFT.

Battling big corporations is one fight, but smaller restaurants also pose their own problems as they are usually more expensive than chain stores. The fact that Stuyvesant is located in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Manhattan leaves students with few options to buy cheap food. “The restaurants near Stuy[vesant] are much more expensive than those in Queens. You wouldn’t get as much for your money, and it's not worth going there,” freshman Osniel Cortes, a Flushing resident, said.

Junior Jackson Ngo is one of the few students who are actually aware of and use the discount. “I used it for Shake Shack because its prices are pretty high compared to other fast food restaurants and I don't usually go there because of that. I could very easily get a lot more food at McDonald's,” he said. Ngo, who saves around two dollars with the discount with every purchase, realizes that though the discount is a nice gesture, its current limitation with respect to the number of locations is what makes it relatively unused. Meanwhile, the stores that do offer the discount were more expensive to begin with, therefore not permanently swaying students in their favor.

Junior Evelyn Cao can also attest to the restrictions on the discount. Cao, who goes to Jupioca on Chambers Street for poke bowls, says that it’s still cheaper than Poke Green, even with the discount. A two-protein bowl at Poke Green is 14 dollars, 12 with the discount, while at Jupioca one can get a bowl at around 10 dollars. Cao also offers a suggestion for more places to add: “I would go more often to the pizzerias along Chambers Street and Dirty Bird if there was a discount,” she said. Wang made no mention of reaching out to these restaurants, though he did reference other future plans: “The caucuses will eventually move to stores that would benefit the student body like Staples or other arts and crafts or stationary stores,” he said. The popularity of the program could also increase with the addition of popular stores like Muji, which is a favorite for school supplies.

As a whole, the program would make spending much easier and more enjoyable for students by allowing them to spend less money with every purchase. These benefits, however, would be much more effective with greater awareness of the program and tips on how students can manage money. The program also implies the greater importance of student IDs in the future. Right now, most students only use their ID to swipe in and out of the school, but the SU could continue working on programs that would give student discounts for other attractions, such as museums, theaters, and Broadway.