On June 2, President Ronald J. Daniels announced a series of budget cuts facilitated by the Faculty Budget Advisory Committee and the Johns Hopkins University Council to offset recent federal funding reductions. These initiatives included pausing annual pay increases for most employees, freezing hiring for new and existing staff positions, slowing capital projects involving research and student life, and reducing discretionary spending on travel, food, supplies and professional services.
To understand how these cuts affected Hopkins Dining in the 2025–26 academic year, The News-Letter spoke with University administration, three undergraduate students and three Hopkins Dining workers.
Reduced dining hours and options
Since the 2024–25 academic year, Hopkins Dining removed Late Night Dining hours (9 p.m.–12 a.m.) at Hopkins Cafe. Additionally, Charles Street Market no longer includes the vendors “Scoopology” and “The Bun Shop.” University administration attributed these changes to low student engagement with the now-removed offerings in an email to The News-Letter.
“Each year we evaluate our operations to ensure our food offerings match up with student demand, and this process often leads to changes with venues and vendors. Specific to late-night dining, over the past several years, we've observed a consistent decline in late-night dining volume at Hopkins Café,” a University spokesperson wrote.
However, many students disputed the claim and expressed disappointment with this decision, feeling that these features were well-loved among the student community. In an email to The News-Letter, sophomore Chaitra Moligi reflected on the removal of Scoopology.
“Personally, I frequented Scoopology late at night, specifically for their waffle and ice cream. To me, it was the best way to end a late night of work, so I will definitely miss it,“ Moligi wrote. “Hopkins dining claims that Scoopology and the Bun Shop shut down due to low activity, but whenever I went to Charles Street Market, I’d have to wait in a line just to get some ice cream. I am extremely saddened by this change.”
Sophomore Elaine Flowers shared similar sentiments toward Scoopology in an email to The News-Letter.
“Charles Street Market was the place to go my freshman year. Any late-night cravings, Charles Street Market. Any sweet cravings, Charles Street Market,” Flowers wrote. “No matter what time you went, it was packed. Now without Scoopology and the Bun Shop, there’s really no need to go anymore. It’s like a ghost town in there. [...] It lost its spark.”
In terms of late-night dining options, sophomore Lia Carroll highlighted the inconvenience of this change in an email to The News-Letter.
“Late night was the only way to get a well-rounded meal after 10 p.m., which isn’t an uncommon time for clubs or PILOT [sessions] to end,” Carroll stated.
Moligi corroborated Carroll’s sentiment, adding that many Hopkins students attend late-night labs, classes and study sessions, so they need well-rounded food options at all times. Flowers mentioned that late-night options are essential to students, and the change deterred many students from Hopkins Cafe this year.
“I know, for me, I haven't been eating at any of the dining halls, let alone Hopkins Café, for a couple weeks due to the change,” Flowers wrote.
Notably, the University has since updated dining hours until 10 p.m. with all fully functioning stations, noting that limited dining stations after 9 p.m. may have discouraged student attendance and engagement.
Strain on staffing and food quality
Hopkins Dining also experienced staffing and food quality changes since the summer budget cuts and its 2022 transition into a self-operating model, after separating from Bon Appétit Managing Company.
Due to the hiring freeze, the University communicated that staffing positions have remained unfilled in an email to The News-Letter.
“Some full-time professional staff positions on the dining management team are currently on hold, as a result of the university’s hiring freeze,” a spokesperson wrote. “[However,] the team is adequately staffed to meet the demands and needs of our campus community and ensure quality execution for our students’ dining experience.”
However, three Hopkins dining cooks disagreed, noting that their workload has significantly increased disproportionate to their pay. They attributed this to Hopkins Dining cutting old positions and combining responsibilities. One cook, going by the pseudonym “Rachel,” described her experience in an interview with The News-Letter.
“We used to have a whole prep team in each building. Now, if you’re a cook, you have to cook and prepare your own food, so you’re doing double the work. You might see some stations where one person might be cooking for four stations and three stations,” Rachel stated. “Also, they cut schedules, [...] so there is a lot of stuff that needs to be done, but they never created a position for it; instead, they just try to [say] ‘oh, well, you can do this. This is part of your job.’ But when [...] you picked up your job, you weren't told that that was a part of your job description.”
Rachel then mentioned how several workers, her included, have felt pressured to complete more work in the same amount of time.
“I’ve been in situations where I ended up at a combined station, and I was not able to do the amount of work they wanted me to do and have my food out on time, so I was literally being harassed down my back [...] to the point where HR has to be involved. We’ve been telling [our managers] that it’s too much work for us, and [they’re] not trying to help or add a new position,” Rachel recalled.
Another cook, going by the pseudonym “Anna,” corroborated these concerns in an interview with The News-Letter.
“They’re making people do multiple full-time jobs within an eight-hour shift. They refuse, some days, to let us work overtime [because] they want us to congest so much in one eight-hour shift and don’t want to hire anyone new,” Anna said.
The third cook, going by the pseudonym “Jenna,” added that workers were not notified about their new positions, expecting to complete new responsibilities under new job descriptions.
“To cut down on us filing grievances with the union [regarding new obligations], they label everybody the same. It used to say ‘prep cook’ or ‘production cook,’ but now everyone is a production cook,” Jenna stated.
Jenna added that other roles have been consolidated, such as dishwashers now being responsible for building-wide trash collection, when originally their job description only included washing dishes. This makes it difficult for these workers (and others alike) to keep up with both jobs simultaneously.
All three workers also mentioned how these changes directly resulted from the change in contractors. They reported that, before, Hopkins Dining received fresh produce, but now they only receive frozen or canned food.
“When we worked for outside contractors, everything was fresh. We had a whole preparation team dedicated to cutting and cleaning fresh vegetables and food. Now, everything is out of a can or frozen. [...] I feel like the quality of food is declining, and the quality of the food they bring in has declined,” Rachel mentioned.
Students have also noticed the low quality and limitations in food, with Flowers and Moligi stating that quality and, recently, portions have been low since their time at Hopkins.
“I’ve also realized that the portions at the B.Y.O.B. station in Nolan’s have significantly reduced. Today, I received a pasta portion half the size of a small side plate. When I asked the worker for some more pasta, he refused and said that was all I was allowed to get,” Moligi stated.
Communication limitations
Hopkins workers also reported feeling like they have limited ways to communicate any grievances or issues. In her interview with The News-Letter, Rachel mentioned how many workers fear losing their jobs over communicating their grievances, since workers often get fired over small things. Moreover, their worker union fails to negotiate against the combining of positions.
Anna added that many cooks have been working at Hopkins Dining for many years, providing them with insight and experience into student preferences. However, workers feel like managers don’t properly listen to their input.
“They act like they care about our opinions and suggestions, but it goes through one end and out the other end,” Anna said. “Everyone is trying to find different outlets because of how we’re being treated at Hopkins right now.”
While the University has not confirmed any dining-specific budget cuts, they stated their commitment to providing quality meals and opening new dining operations in the Bloomberg Student Center and Agora Institute.
“We evaluate all operations on an ongoing, annual basis and make changes according to program needs and data from customer participation” a University spokesperson wrote. “As always, our primary focus remains the student dining experience with an emphasis on quality execution and customer service. We remain committed to continuing to provide access to voluntary meal plans; increasing our opportunities to collaborate with students and staff to ensure we are meeting student and university needs; and working towards the successful opening of operations at the Bloomberg Student Center and Agora Institute.”
Notably, Hopkins Dining workers reported receiving no notice about any budget cuts, yet they felt that the budget cuts were apparent due to their staffing changes.
“Their actions show the budget change, but I don’t recall them mentioning it outside of cutting back on hours, like overtime, and doub[ling] our work, tripl[ing] some people’s.” Jenna added, “When you talk to other people who work for the University, and you hear about how they have extra paid holidays and time off and initiatives like ‘Employee of the Month,’ you realize that dining employees get nothing. Even now we haven’t gotten a raise.”
