D.P. Roberts
Conductor
I know there have been a million threads about the current state of Amtrak's dining cars, their problems, the causes of those problems, and how to fix them. But when I see something like this, it truly makes me wonder just how broken the dining system truly is.
One of Amtrak's new "Healthy & Flavor Forward Specialties" is listed as "Black Bean Vegetable Enchiladas." According to Amtrak Food Facts (http://purls.agsprint.com/restimg2/force/cvp/template/1/Amtrak__Food_Facts/AMTRAK-11-4-2015-33.pdf), this is simply an Amy's Kitchen frozen food entree. These are readily available at many supermarkets for about $4.
Amtrak recently posted their November 2015 menus online, including the new entree mentioned above. To be fair, the entree includes a side salad and a roll. It's also possible that it includes side vegetables, but AFF doesn't include them, and shows the entree presented without them.
Again, this is a frozen food entree that retails for about $4. Undoubtedly Amtrak buys them for a fraction of that price. But the price on the menu for that entree is... $15.75!
Does it really cost Amtrak almost $12 to store that meal onboard & heat it up in a microwave???
If we take that as a given - Amtrak charges about $12 in "overhead" on each entree, and still loses money in the dining cars - one wonders how Amtrak hopes to cut its way to profitability (or at least breaking even) in the dining cars.
One of Amtrak's new "Healthy & Flavor Forward Specialties" is listed as "Black Bean Vegetable Enchiladas." According to Amtrak Food Facts (http://purls.agsprint.com/restimg2/force/cvp/template/1/Amtrak__Food_Facts/AMTRAK-11-4-2015-33.pdf), this is simply an Amy's Kitchen frozen food entree. These are readily available at many supermarkets for about $4.
Amtrak recently posted their November 2015 menus online, including the new entree mentioned above. To be fair, the entree includes a side salad and a roll. It's also possible that it includes side vegetables, but AFF doesn't include them, and shows the entree presented without them.
Again, this is a frozen food entree that retails for about $4. Undoubtedly Amtrak buys them for a fraction of that price. But the price on the menu for that entree is... $15.75!
Does it really cost Amtrak almost $12 to store that meal onboard & heat it up in a microwave???
If we take that as a given - Amtrak charges about $12 in "overhead" on each entree, and still loses money in the dining cars - one wonders how Amtrak hopes to cut its way to profitability (or at least breaking even) in the dining cars.