Rachel Mak, Contributing Photographer

Yale’s butteries are places to grab a late-night and heavily-subsidized snack. But recently, some prices have risen. 

Butteries at Yale are core to the residential college experience as places for cheap food and a social study space late at night. They are overseen not by Yale Hospitality but by the individual colleges, each of which is in charge of the management and budgets of their butteries. While the food is normally cheap, some have recently raised their prices with the pressure of food inflation and increased financial losses, Assistant Director of Operations at Ezra Stiles College Marc Levenson said. 

“The prices haven’t been raised in twelve years, until this last year… then food inflation had gone up so much so, very slowly, we raised [the prices],” Levenson said, explaining last year’s price increase at Ezra Stiles’ buttery, the Moose Butt.

Levenson told the News that the Moose Butt had to, for example, increase the price of quesadillas from $1 to $1.50 to compensate for increasing costs. Prices have also increased at the Bow Wow, Elm and the Ivy, which are run separately by Yale Hospitality.

Levenson explained that butteries at Yale have never been able to support themselves with sales revenue; rather, they are heavily subsidized by each residential college so that students can have special places to study and eat. 

“It’s a matter of how many extra thousands of dollars can [the residential college] afford,” Levenson said. 

In Pierson College, the buttery workers acknowledge that the buttery runs at a loss, but that this is an expected part of making this experience possible and one that is planned for in the college’s budget.

Patton Hahn ’28, a co-manager at Pierson’s buttery, said the butteries also organize different student activities.

“For example, we did [an event] where everyone got one free item… and we’re also hosting an intramural event where we are giving stuff away for free,” Hahn said. “I’m pretty sure that we are very much okay with running things at a loss.” 

Micah Draper ’28, a worker at the buttery in Pauli Murray College, said that butteries play a significant role in residential college life. 

Jacob Haley ’28, a new buttery worker at the Moose Butt, echoed Draper’s sentiment that butteries are an important social space. 

“It’s really fun to work with your friends and provide a welcoming space for everybody to enjoy themselves and have fun!” Haley said. 

Butteries are usually open from Sunday through Thursday night from as early as 9:30 p.m. until as late as 1 a.m.