De Pit: 'Tasty, crunchy, and fresh'

The Educatorium canteen now has a new area, where three students prepare vegan lunches right in front of the customers. Most of the work, such as roasting vegetables, is done the day before.

On this trial day, students and staff can get a plate of roasted vegetables such as mushrooms and potatoes, plus an apple, kohlrabi salad and homemade mayonnaise for 5 euros.

The price is higher than the students behind De Pit would actually like, but it is necessary, at least for a while, to reduce costs, explains De Pit's coordinator, Christina van Beek. "Five euros is quite expensive. We ultimately intend to reduce the price to 4 euros." De Pit aims to be open from Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, though closing time is not fixed. "We only close when our food runs out," says Van Beek.

Well received
Customers' reactions on trial day have been positive, without exception. "This is better than anything else on campus, really good," said an international student. Two other students were also full of praise for the food. "Tasty, powerful, natural, pure fuel, brain-nurturing food," they said. They were curious about the concept and chose De Pit for its price and ingredients.

The portions are generous. One of the customers, Lotte, couldn't even finish hers. But it was "very tasty, crunchy and fresh". Another customer, Leon, agreed with Lotte and had a tip for the students behind the initiative. "The only thing this meal is missing is a source of protein," he said, pointing out that some students thought De Pit was only offering a side salad, not a full meal. "Some people added a burger to get some protein." That's something the students behind De Pit would rather not see them doing. After all, they only serve vegan meals because they want to be as sustainable as possible.

Successful
A total of 45 portions were sold on trial day, generating a turnover of 225 euros. The leftover food was distributed among the volunteers. They want to limit food waste as much as possible so that nothing is thrown away at the end of the day. They also keep costs low because most of the workforce consists of volunteers. "" We have a network of over sixty student volunteers who do it for a free meal."

The only party De Pit has to pay is Eurest, the company that provides catering at Utrecht University. Eurest receives 20 per cent of the income for the use of their kitchen and space. The rest of the money goes towards paying the three chefs and purchasing ingredients. The chefs are all students and former students with catering experience.

Long preparation
It took a while for De Pit to come into being. Christina van Beek had her doubts about whether Eurest would want to cooperate, but she didn't have to worry because the caterer thought it was a good idea from the start. "The location manager was really enthusiastic about our initiative, and the collaboration is going well," she says. In addition to the collaboration with the catering company, De Pit had to overcome other obstacles, such as applying for subsidies. Initially, the students behind the initiative estimated they would need 12,000 euros to get the project underway. In practice, 7,500 euros were enough.

De Pit would also like to organise dinner events in the future. They may start doing so on 11 February. "We want to motivate students to make a difference in their immediate surroundings." That is why the project is called De Pit (The Pit), by the way. "The pit, as in the pit in a piece of fruit. A pit is the core of something, and we want to tackle problems from the core." 

For those interested, there will be another trial day next Tuesday.