FAQs - University Gastronomy

Autoload means that new credit will be put onto your card as soon as it falls below a certain value. It’s carried out via direct debit; thus you’ll no longer need to top up your card at the service stations. You’ll always have enough credit on your card!

Registering takes place at the Infopoints where you complete a SEPA direct debit mandate, thus authorizing us to make withdrawals from your personal or joint account. To do so, please bring along a document verifying you as the account holder (e.g. bank card, banking app, bank statement) as well as your canteen card (Legic Card / StudentCard).

Any account which we can withdraw from within the SEPA can be used. If you’re not sure whether or not your account can be used for SEPA direct debit, please get in touch with your bank to find out. In general, SEPA countries include all 27 EU states plus EEA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway as well as Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Vatican City and the UK.

You’ll need to provide at least the IBAN for your account. If you have an account in Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra, Vatican City or the UK, you’ll also require the BIC.

In order to complete the SEPA direct debit mandate you also need to provide proof of your current address, such as a valid ID showing your address. In the case of international students whose current address is not stated on their ID, we require the student’s “Meldebescheinigung” (official proof of residence).

Should your bank account, address or even your name change, please immediately inform the Infopoint.

In order to prevent fraud and for your own safety, your card can only be automatically topped up once a day. You will however still be able to top up your card with cash at the service machines.

Cards can only be automatically topped up at a cash register; unfortunately, Autoload can’t be carried out at vending machines.

Should the Studierendenwerk receive a return debit note, the card will be blocked. You can unblock it at an Infopoint. Only cash can be accepted for unblocking a card after a returned payment. Should you have any questions, please contact: mensa@stwm.de.

Topping up your card via Autoload can only be carried out when paying at a cash desk. That happens the moment your balance drops below the value you specified.

The term "KlimaTeller" (Eng. climate dish) is used for climate-friendly dishes and was developed by our project partner NAHhaft e.V. and Greentable e.V. in cooperation with Eaternity.

A dish is labelled as a KlimaTeller in our menus if it causes at least 50% less CO₂e emissions as comparable dishes, while taking into account its nutritional value.

Since September 2024 and in cooperation with NAHhaft, we have been labelling the KlimaTeller in our menus.

The project is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the national climate protection initiative.

We receive the data from Eaternity, who was commissioned for this purpose by our project partner NAHhaft e.V.  More detailed information in German can be found here.

Evaluation requires a reference. Eaternity has analysed data provided by 150 businesses from the food-service industry for business, industry, schools, universities and health care, situated mainly in German-speaking countries. This data was used to establish an average.

Eaternity is project partner of our cooperation partner NAHhaft e. V. More information in German can be found here.

Various different factors are considered.

In order to calculate the dishes' CO₂e footprint, the ingredients' origin, transport, seasonality, convenience as well as existing certificates are taken into account. By means of a life cycle assessment the individual CO₂e emissions are established. 

Evaluating a dish's climate footprint requires a reference. Eaternity has analysed data provided by 150 businesses from the food-service industry for business, industry, schools, universities and health care, situated mainly in German-speaking countries. This data resulted in an average which shows whether a dish improves or increases the CO₂e and water footprint compared to it.

Eaternity is project partner of our cooperation partner NAHhaft e.V. for determining the CO₂e emissions.

More detailed information can be found in the German FAQs provided by our cooperation partner NAHhaft e.V.

CO₂ is carbon dioxide and only ONE of several factors which are included in the climate footprint. Apart from carbon dioxide (CO₂) there are also other greenhouse gases. The total of all greenhouse gases is converted into CO₂ equivalents – abbr. CO₂e.

Our graphics use the simplified CO₂.

Sometimes, you'll also come across the abbreviations "CO₂e" or "CO₂eq" for "CO₂ equivalents". That tells you that the other greenhouse gases are included.

(German source: NAHhaft e.V.).

More detailed information can be found in the German FAQs provided by our cooperation partner NAHhaft e.V.

A climate-friendly cuisine uses food which creates comparatively few greenhouse gas emissions while being produced – on its entire way from the field to the kitchen.

(German source: NAHhaft e.V.)

More details can be found in the German FAQs provided by our cooperation partner NAHhaft e.V.

The following food is especially bad for the climate: a lot of animal-based food, intensely processed and cooled products as well as food whose production requires processes that are harmful to the environment.

(German source: NAHhaft e.V.).

More information in German can be found here.

If a dish has a low CO₂e footprint but is no KlimaTeller, the reason can be too low a nutritional value or missing carbohydrates. Sometimes that's the case with salads or soups.

(German source: NAHhaft e.V.).

More information in German can be found here.

The CO₂e footprint of beef, pork and poultry differs in particular due to the different amounts of emissions that are set free during production. The value chain of beef leads to higher CO₂e emissions than is the case with poultry and pork. This is mainly due to higher methane emissions resulting from cattle farming. Due to the high protein content, often soya is used as feed for chickens, pigs and cows. In order to meet the increasing demand for this feed, rainforest is felled for instance in Brazil (changes in land use). Compared to beef, the CO₂e emissions in poultry and pork production are lower. These differences are mainly a result of the lower methane production. Despite these lower emissions, pork and poultry also lead to deforestation as large areas are needed for the production of feed, especially soya. 

Comparison: 

• beef: 16.6 kg CO₂e / kg
• pork: 7 kg CO₂e / kg
• poultry: 4.4 kg CO₂e / kg

German source: NAHhaft e.V.

As part of the STWM's sustainability strategy, the traffic-light system and the KlimaTeller were introduced in September 2024. Along with several other Studierendenwerke, our University Gastronomy is taking part in a project conducted throughout Germany; it is carried out by NAHhaft e.V. and is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the national climate protection initiative.

Thus, we are also meeting with the request of the Bayerische Landesstudierendenrat for a more climate-friendly university gastronomy and are taking responsibility for our climate and environment.

The STWM has been labelling the dishes' CO₂e and water footprint by means of a traffic-light system as well as the KlimaTeller since September 2024.

Fresh water resources are not evenly distributed around the world. 70% of fresh water resources are used for food production.  The water footprint does not state the general usage of water, but relates to a region's water shortage. Food which is cultivated in arid regions increases the region's water shortage. Thus, a tomato which was grown in Germany has a different water footprint compared to a tomato which was grown in regions with less water, such as Spain.

The water footprint takes into account the amount of fresh water which is used for the product in the individual production region as well as the region's relative water shortage.

Our chips naturally don’t contain any ingredients of animal origin, but consist solely of potatoes and oil. They’re also always deep-fried in vegetable fat. However, the deep fryer is also used for other food that does contain meat. Unfortunately, our canteens don’t have a sufficient number of deep fryers to strictly separate the different types of food and it’s not possible to keep changing the frying fat as we’re talking about up to 160 litres which would have to be changed a couple of times each day.

For the most part, our canteens don’t use flavour enhancers that require labelling (in accordance with the German “Zusatzstoff-Zulassungsverordnung”) as ingredients for their recipes, such as monosodium glutamate. We also, as far as possible, don’t offer any products which contain them. Dishes or products that do contain them are labelled with the corresponding number (4).

Several weeks go by from putting together the menu to ordering the food and it being delivered and processed. During this time it can happen that articles are altered by the producer or supplier. This information is then of course passed on to our guests. For instance, the ingredients of our noodles changed, making it necessary to change the labelling from “vegan” to “vegetarian”.

Here we have good news. The nutritional values of the listed articles are by and by being entered into the management system. That’s a lot of work as several thousand articles need to be edited in our data base. We’re nonetheless glad to carry out this task. Nutritional values have already been entered for a majority of the articles, so that our guests will soon be able to gain access to this information. We’re planning to publish this data for the coming winter semester.

There’s a central menu, which is created a lot in advance. Individual dishes however are put on the menus by our facilities’ chefs on that day. This ensures flexibility with regard to, for instance, the weather/season. Only the menu planned up ahead is available online, which currently cannot be brought up to date immediately should, for instance, food run out or should there be delivery problems. We’re already working hard at soon being able to provide more detailed information.

Our University Catering Service is available for customers in the field of higher education; it’s part of the department University Gastronomy of the Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern.

The Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern would love to do without any paper cups as the purchase and especially the disposal of the cups, which has a great environmental impact, would cease to be necessary. For years already, the Studierendenwerk has in fact been offering its guest various possibilities to avoid using paper cups. For one thing, it’s of course possible to use porcelain cups for your cup of coffee. You’re even very welcome to take those cups in to a lecture, provided they’re handed back. The Studierendenwerk also offers reusable cups to go, which are available for only €3.60 in our StuCafés and StuBistros^Mensa. Naturally, all our guests can also bring and use their own cups. The outlet of the coffee machines can be adjusted in height. By the way, the disposable cups as well as the lids of the Studierendenwerk are 100% biocompatible, which has already been the case for more than 5 years! Despite all the alternatives it would be hard to completely do without any paper cups as the Studierendenwerk has a lot of unattended coffee machines.

Unfortunately, the fresh milk was often drunk “just like that” without any coffee. That led to our employees hardly being able to keep up with filling up the milk; often, there was none left for our coffee drinkers, causing complaints. We are sorry to say that putting up notices has so far shown no results, which is why you can only get portioned milk at some of our coffee machines.

In the case of meals that are sold in fixed amounts that’s unfortunately not possible as the dishes and their prices are worked out in detail. But you’re always welcome to buy yourself a second helping. A further reason why we are introducing self-service concepts – everyone can take exactly as much as they want. Getting yourself more, is then always possible.

The Studierendenwerk doesn’t set up water dispensers for hygienic reasons. However, the Sodenthaler StuCafé water is available for only 50 cents per half a litre in all of the Studierendenwerk’s gastronomic facilities.

We frequently look into the possibility of donating food, which is, however, not as simple as one might presume; often, certain conditions need to be fulfilled, such as assumption of liability. Donating food is therefore unfortunately not possible at the moment. However, the Studierendenwerk always does its best to generally avoid food waste.

All our gastronomic services which have already switched to our new service and cash desk system now offer desserts in a glass. Desserts are also offered in plastic cups as this makes it possible to present them a lot more attractively as would be the case in porcelain bowls. Another advantage is the possibility to buy them as a takeaway for later, which a lot of our students like doing.

Dishes which our guests (can) take themselves are charged for according to weight, enabling our guests to decide themselves how much they want. With some dishes, however, it’s is rather awkward to help yourself or it would take too long. In the case of certain dishes, for example during our specials weeks, it’s also important to us to prepare the food nicely for you on your plate.

Due to data protection, cards are not personalized; we can therefore only block your card and give you back the remaining balance if you know your card number. So make sure to take a note of your 6-digit card number, e.g. with your phone. Should you lose your card, you can then provide your card number in order to have it blocked by the Infopoint. Also, if a card is found and handed in, the number makes it possible to verify the owner of the card and thus return it.

As soon as one of our gastronomic facilities has changed to the new service and cash desk system, you will receive information from our staff at the checkout. For general questions and complaints regarding this matter, you’re very welcome to turn to the management of the individual gastronomic facilities. Or send an email to mensa@stwm.de.